pawnman

As we always knew he would. Hell, he's been burning it down for most of his presidency. He's just losing the support of the GOP to cover for his shenanigans. Based on how hard they fought to get him re-elected, fight the results in places where he didn't win, and pushing to not certify the electoral college...I'd have to say yes. It's not like a huge number of GOP voters went to third party candidates. It's not like a bunch of GOP representatives and senators have bothered to put up even the most lackluster show of protest for Trump's election circus. It's not like anyone with real power in the GOP has come out and said "Trump has lost this election, he needs to stop whining about it and get ready to peacefully turn over the reins of power to Biden's administration". So...yeah, seems like they worked really hard to keep him in office.

A bunch of cities in California are handing out fines to people who don't wear a mask. If I were a cop in the "defund the police" era...I'd be handing out fines left and right. Seems like a pretty steady source of income that the left won't complain about.

There's even a video out there where the GOP chair in Georgia is answering questions at a rally, and people keep asking "why should we even vote if the outcome is already decided?" and "what's the point in voting if the Democrats are going to rig the election anyway?" Turns out when you call the entire voting process into question...you chip away at the motivation of your voters. Trump's done some good things, but I would be happy to see someone more capable of regulating their emotions in charge of the party.

I'm honestly not sure. I just found out about it in July when I started as an ROTC instructor.

12B here. Totally for masks, against total lockdowns, mixed opinions on limiting capacity in businesses.

Bingo. It isn't "wear a mask and the virus disappears". It's "wear a mask and you can reduce the spread". It's sad we've come to a point where even otherwise educated adults can't grasp that not breathing on people will help prevent the spread of germs.

And distance, and vaccines. Does your car have a seatbelt AND airbags?

Ummm... Again...I'd love to read your paper.

Let's see...MIT isn't good enough... How about the Mayo Clinic? https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449 CDC? https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/masking-science-sars-cov2.html British Medical Journal? https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577 Nature? https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02801-8 I mean...if you have a peer-reviewed, published paper you've written detailing the research you've done into how ineffective masks are...I'd love to see it. As far as I'm concerned, if they prevent even 5% of cases, then wear a mask. It's not that burdensome.

And you couldn't have a copy of Runner's World or other fitness magazines if a woman was on the cover in a sports bra. But shirtless men were OK.

There's plenty of evidence that masks work. I wonder how many people would be willing to compromise: "You wear masks everywhere, and we'll reopen everything". Probably still a bridge too far for some. I'll put my faith in actual scientists that the masks work: https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-updates/2020/07/do-cloth-masks-work

My position is we can stop when 1. Every person knows whether they are a carrier every day 2. Enough people are vaccinated that spread is negligible. Is it that hard to wear a mask? Do you rail against seatbelt laws or complain that requiring shoes in a place of business is oppressive? Putting a mask on is, quite literally, the least you can do.

The AFOQT quantitative and verbal scores always use the highest, no matter if you passed or failed the first attempt. Rated boards always use the most recent score, even if it's worse than the first one. Does that help?

How about when we stop setting new records for number infected on a daily basis?

Don't forget the 34th. Cultural appropriation using the Native American Thunderbird like that.

That's the point. Wear your mask to protect other people, because you can carry the virus and have no symptoms. You don't know if you have it or not. Just like a fire light in the cockpit... Take the precautions for an engine fire, instead of saying "well, I don't smell any smoke, must be a faulty detector"

Saw a congressman on Twitter joke that there would be noodles in the House cafeteria. Ramen...and rawomen.

Would you tell your surgeon not to bother with a mask "because it doesn't do anything"? Why do you think they would be even less effective when you don't have a giant, open wound in your body?

Gen X here. Happy to pay my own debts. Or are generations now based on political views instead of when you were born? Lord knows I've been called "boomer" plenty of times.

Well, hopefully we can avoid China and South Korea lynching North Koreans for looking at a woman or driving after sunset.

They aren't the only ones. Which generation is demanding other people pay for the student loans they signed for again?

Doesn't matter because it doesn't affect how much the people below them make. They're selling goods and services, not stealing from people.

Someone doesn't know the difference between income and net worth. Unless you're proposing that we start taxing people based on net worth? Because I don't think Bezos or Musk would have paid a single extra dollar in taxes under the 90% income tax scheme...because they don't have large incomes. They have large stakes in companies that increased in value this year. Because that's where people spent it? It's not like Bezos and Musk pulled a truck up to the treasury printing press. By the way...those markets that you seem to despise so much are the key for most people to build wealth. Even generational wealth. Most people, it seems, would rather have the new iPhone or UHD TV than to invest in the companies that makes those things, though.

You're right. The Texas delegation would pitch a fit if we said we were closing a squadron at Dyess for any reason.

Fair enough. I wasn't aware it was a request direct from RegAF. Sitting down in the FTU, we were told that we were losing those UMD slots but that the reserves would help with the FTU burden. For like the first six months, there were three guys that would fly with us about once a month. Then it stopped. To the point where one newly-hired reservist asked the reserve leadership about flying with the FTU and was told "we don't do that. Ever. Don't ask again". As for those manning slots being unfilled...you may have a point. But it also makes the numbers look better so they're less likely to get help. If I have 8 of 32 manning slots filled, I'm at 25% manning. If I have 8 of 16 slots filled, I'm suddenly at 50% manning - twice as good. With the same number of people in the squadron. Anyway, it's not my problem anymore for a few years. And with the B-21 starting up and all the restrictions they've put on the B-1, I wouldn't be surprised to see the FTU shut down in a couple years anyway. What's the point in training a dude to fly a plane that's getting retired before he even upgrades to mission lead or aircraft commander?