pawnman

Nope. I'll either vote 3rd party or not at all. I have not seen anything that convinces me that, despite all their rhetoric, Republicans and democrats are actually that far apart on a national level.

Neither does voting for establishment candidates.

Guess I lost money in the pool. My bet was "polonium tea".

Here's a what-if that I think Trump is too egotistical for...he campaigns deep into the primary. All the dems focus their attacks on Trump. Then at some point he just drops and and endorses someone (probably Vivek given how similar the talking points are).

You don't have one. Got it.

And what is you end goal? Surrender a bunch of territory to Russia and do this again in 7-10 years, like when they took Crimea?

But how much of a bonus do you have to offer the AI to keep it from going to Delta?

I listened to Vivek on the All In podcast and I thought he did a pretty good job. I have some disagreements with him, but at this stage, I think he may be the closest to what I would want in the White House. And the left can't accuse him off just being an old white man, so the diversity angle is covered.

We need common- sense wedgie control!

And I guess I'll hold out some kind of hope you change your position on international relations.

Well, here you go then: The vaccines definitely don't work as well as advertised. I don't think there should have been a mandate. That said, I think the knee-jerk reaction against any kind of protective measures was pretty ridiculous as well. I think that Pfizer and company made a shit-ton of money from hysteria, and I think that's shameful that we were sold that bill of goods. I also think it isn't helpful to paint every medical professional as a mustache-twirling evil doer for suggesting basic protective measures. And I still think it is incredibly alarming the number of military members who think they can just tell senior leaders to pound sand over a decision as trivial as "wear a mask at work if you're not vaccinated". Like, I get it, people didn't want to get the vaccine. I still think the DoD has the authority to require it, but whatever, it doesn't seem to be super effective anyway. But the idea that you can't even be bothered to put up with the barest inconvenience when required by the SECDEF is baffling to me. "I'm willing to fight and die for my country, but I'm not willing to wear a mask". And then, to reinforce your point, you parrot Russian propaganda. Like, literally, Russian talking points. On Covid, on the weakness of the military, on the weakness of the US in general, on the weakness in the culture, on Ukraine. You could, quite literally, be a stand-in for Putin's press secretary. All while claiming to love America. So sure, I'll apologize. I'm sorry that I thought the vaccines would be helpful. I'm sorry that I supported the mandates given their track record. I won't apologize for "leaving people to die outside hospitals", because that was never a stance I took. If you want to misrepresent my position, go for it. I won't say what I see when your username pops up, because quite frankly, I value the forum too much to risk the ban.

That's gonna be a great talking point for another 20 years or so, eh?

I swear, I think if China invaded California half of these guys would say we shouldn't respond because governor Newsome is corrupt...

Bashi will put it into every thread. He's really passionate about it.

I had an OG/CC in the B-1 who was missing during all of OEF/OIF. He was introduced at a formal function as having "over 100 combat hours". For perspective, as a brand-new captain on my first deployment, I had 100 hours in my first month.

Larry Thorn, a guy so committed to killing commies he joined 3 different armies to do it - Finland, Germany, and the US.

Just because California is a shithole doesn't mean all of western civilization is failing. Maybe you just need to move out of a failing city.

One of the worrying things about this, aside from the obvious, is that we may be looking at a real estate crash on par with 2008. The developers have mortgages on these properties that they pay by leasing them out. Now they don't have tenants, and refinancing will be much more expensive with the interest rate hikes. At some point they stop paying the multi- million dollar mortgages and the banks start eating those losses in a big way.

On the plus side, you can wear blues to a bar. Unlike the flight suit/OCPs. Which is a bonus if you have to do all your drinking off-base.

And what powers the prop...?

I'd definitely take the 0800-1500 option. That's earlier than I leave already. And with no drinking at the squadron bar, a 1500 departure should get you to the local Applebee's just in time for happy hour...

That'll improve retention

I had a similar experience my first year in ROTC, but it was also amazing to see how many cadets became interested in flying once they had two rated officers in the detachment telling flying stories. We went from like 3 freshmen in a class of 30 being interested to commissioning over half the graduating class into rated spots. The cadets in ROTC already want to join the Air Force...I don't think you need to push too hard to get them interested in aviation. A lot of them had pre-screened themselves out "because I don't have perfect vision" or "I had a concussion once in junior high". All it took was a little education to convince them to at least apply and make the Air Force turn them down instead of keeping themselves from even competing.

I mean... it's legal in California. Not sure I'd want my lawyer hitting a bong while he's on the clock, though. Maybe Hunter had different ideas about what he wants from legal counsel.