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4th May 2017, 10:02 AM | #161 |
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On the contrary, with new technology, there are usually problems associated with new Air Force aircraft that are eventually worked out with modifications under the TCTO system. Even new civilian airliners undergo such modifications over time.
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In that case, it is about time. |
4th May 2017, 10:06 AM | #162 |
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Again, was it underfunded, or were billions and billions of dollars being wasted on pointless boondoggles ? The US spends more than the next 'n' countries on Earth put together on their military, so I find it difficult to believe that it's underfunded.
OTOH I can believe that there are plenty of examples of expensive pieces of the wrong kind of kit. |
4th May 2017, 10:06 AM | #163 |
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4th May 2017, 10:09 AM | #164 |
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4th May 2017, 10:20 AM | #165 |
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4th May 2017, 11:10 AM | #166 |
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4th May 2017, 11:22 AM | #167 |
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Trump seems like an opportunist and pragmatist so far. He's working his poll numbers.
Look how he turned the Establishment and legacy media around, with just a few dozen missiles. If he takes out North Korea, there are going to be some soaked panties. One of the things I really like is delegation. The Congress delegated the war making power to the President. This president, a businessman, delegated it to his generals. I just hope it doesn't stop there. The Generals delegate to the Colonels, who delegate it to the Majors, and down through the Lieutenants and Sergeants - right to where it really belongs: with each serviceman. You just can't have a Congressional debate when you got a slope or brownie right in front of you that needs a good killing, raping, or burning out. And anyway these are not wars. They are police actions, anti-terrorism, or international alphabet-soup resolution enforcement. Trump won't need his base from the last election to win the next one. He is going to have the Establishment and legacy media behind him. We'll "win" some hollow victories by finishing off the leveling of Mosul and then Raqqa at a staggering human cost, especially refugees and disease/malnutrition. Yemen, boy does that look great! Imminent starvation for millions while we arm and assist Saudi Arabia in that mayhem. Afghanistan - bigger bombs! So what's not to be thrilled about for the Establishment and Military Industrial/Security complex? Something I really wonder about now is his campaign platform against fighting these wars and not taking the oil. Well, on that logic if Trump continues fighting these wars am I to infer he's going to take the oil in Eastern Syria, Anbar of Iraq, and etc.? Seems to me he got elected by being the "less war" candidate. But for this comment about seizing the oil he took no heat from the either the Establishment nor his populist base. What if he was serious? This is wrong-headed for creating a reason for war that should not be in place: naked theft. A full-on gangster nation. Regardless, he's proven far to cavalier about war. This was the whole reason for putting the war-making power with congress. He had an infatuation with special ops teams like the Seals that quickly proved naive, but he didn't learn from it apparently. That MOAB was a loud dud insofar as moving events in Afghanistan/Pakistan. Leveling Mosul to save it is every bit as futile as the Viet Nam war leveling of SE Asia. Candidate Trump liked Wikileaks but President Trump is fine with jailing Assange. Looks like a Bill of Goods to me. |
4th May 2017, 11:32 AM | #168 |
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4th May 2017, 12:00 PM | #169 |
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4th May 2017, 12:08 PM | #170 |
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4th May 2017, 12:11 PM | #171 |
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4th May 2017, 12:17 PM | #172 |
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4th May 2017, 12:30 PM | #173 |
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Sufficiently advanced Woo is indistinguishable from Parody "There shall be no *poofing* in science" Paul C. Anagnostopoulos Force ***** on reasons back" Ben Franklin |
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4th May 2017, 01:15 PM | #174 |
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Don't be silly. We'll need to throw some major tax breaks to the corporate heads of the defense contractors and suppliers... which will encourage them to streamline and "trickle down" the benifits throughout the population. After all... that's the core of the new healthcare bill. |
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4th May 2017, 03:40 PM | #175 |
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I am not pro pork. However, there are programs that DoD personnel and contractor use to report abuses and waste, but what I am saying is that without proper equipment, safety gear and spare parts, don't expect anything to get done. There are also benefits to be gained for DoD civilians, DoD contractors and military personnel who can save the government money and I am one of the recipients of such a program. I might add that high-tech research is not cheap, but it has paid off in the past, the present and will in the future. Case in point: ONE BOMB KILLS 40 TANKS US Air Force CBU 105 cluster bomb new https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RtNvyemGx0 US Navy To Go Full Star Trek With New Laser Weapons http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/25/us...laser-weapons/ Despite the fact that I am anti-Trump, I support an increase in military spending because I have seen firsthand how the military has become a basket case, financially speaking. I also like to put it in another way: You don't wait to have an accident to buy insurance. We can also take a look at the latest developments near Alaska as one example.
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Since the Russians also had a "Mainstay" aircraft in the area during the time of the intercept of the Russian bombers and fighters, it was clear to me what the Russians were up to, and it wasn't for the purpose to look for new fishing grounds for their fishing fleet. I might add, that one of my chapters for which I have led, has ties to the 477th Fighter Group and the 302nd Fighter Squadron, which are based at Joint-Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. That unit flies the F-22 Raptor has also intercepted Russian aircraft in the past. The public is largely unaware of what occurs behind closed doors, and another reason why I have stated that you don't wait to have an accident to buy insurance because you have to stay a step ahead of of the competition whose goal is to destroy you along with your government. Another example was made when Russia sent JDAM jammers to Iraq to render our JDAM bombs ineffective, but the Russians were unaware that we tend to place backup measures up our sleeve until needed (your tax dollars @ work). Case in point: we used JDAM bombs to destroy the Russian JDAM jammers because the Russians were unaware of what was up our sleeve and the American people are not familiar with what their tax dollars have been purchasing in regard to high-tech exotic weaponry. The military cannot report every cent it spends for obvious reason because even our adversaries can read English. As mentioned, such technology is not cheap but it is also essential and I hope that Trump understands that as well. The F-15C is now behind the power curve when compared to today's generation aircraft and will eventually be retired to the boneyard. Just to let you know that we are currently in the stages of research regarding artificial intelligent unmanned jet fighters and bombers and the cost to replace current aircraft replacements with those exotic aircraft of the future won't be cheap either. In fact, I'd submitted an unmanned aerial platform using a laser years ago under a special program and I have noticed that the unmanned surveillance stealth aircraft of today reveal similarities to my original design. I did not vote for Trump, but I think he understands where I am coming from as far as military spending is concerned and even things as simple as safety gloves are essential for the production of high-tech weaponry. . |
4th May 2017, 04:02 PM | #176 |
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4th May 2017, 05:09 PM | #177 |
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Can we get back on topic?
Trump has signed an executive order guaranteeing freedom of religion and speech. Which, of course, means exactly the opposite. Fortunately it appears pretty toothless. I had to look up "Johnson Amendment" to see if it referred to Lyndon B. It does. |
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4th May 2017, 07:22 PM | #178 |
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4th May 2017, 11:00 PM | #179 |
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I don't, by a long shot. That you can cite some anecdotes about poor funding in a very specialized case does not in any way make your general case. The Pentagon is so bloated that an attempt to audit it a few years ago was unsuccessful. Maybe I'll shed a tear when, as just one example, we don't have nearly 1000 military installations in foreign countries.
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4th May 2017, 11:05 PM | #180 |
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4th May 2017, 11:51 PM | #181 |
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5th May 2017, 12:09 AM | #182 |
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5th May 2017, 01:03 AM | #183 |
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Does your secret insider knowledge make all their horrible decisions just plain go away?
How about bottom-up funding. Equip the man in the field, the engineers and the maintenance people/pools FIRST. After we get all the gloves you need and the double-ought 203 right-handed ratchet floozles, then buy a battleship. The way it works, and you know it, is that Hil's and Electric Boat and Rockwell and Lockheed get paid and get their budgets approved and the people in the field come in last. When was the last time an Officer's Club had its funding cut back so that the grunts could have better food? When was any time they cancelled one of their fact-finding tours of the best hoochie bars in Satahip (2 days @ 4 hours of meetings wrapped around four days of leisure time) so they could get improved body armor for the troops? It runs top to bottom. The Japanese just did a study on Okinawa and the US base there produces something like double the waste as the locals. That's waste in the area of waste! How many pairs of gloves can you buy for $125,000,000,000? That's 125 billion dollars. That's the estimate by the Pentagon of their own waste. It ain't the budget. It's the management. (And the lobbying industry.) |
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5th May 2017, 01:35 AM | #184 |
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We have to honestly ask ourselves how much of the well-being of the US depends on its global power projection.
It is laughable to call it spending for "Defense" since that could be achieved for 1/1000th of the budget. If it turns out that, yes, we need to have bases everywhere, control all shipping lanes and have to dominate air and space everywhere on the globe then the budget probably is too small. |
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5th May 2017, 05:30 AM | #185 |
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But Trump said the order lifts a ban on hospitalized military personnel from receiving religious items... Except, of course, such a ban doesn't actually exist.
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It turns out he was likely referring to a vaguely worded policy that was revised years ago.
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5th May 2017, 09:48 AM | #186 |
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This is the crux of the argument. What is our strategy and I would agree it seems to be to project overwhelming power anywhere in the world and on multiple fronts.
I haven't read through this document but it is a 2015 document on US military strategy. The strategy is clearly trying to address multiple threats from state and non-state actors at a global level and therefore requires the massive military spending. I think the strategy needs to be more focused on specific threats to the United States and not a such a widespread set of threats. On top of this, you have of course congressmen (of both parties) who feed their local military industries with lucrative contracts whether the military wants them or not. I don't have any ideas how you stop this. |
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5th May 2017, 11:01 AM | #187 |
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5th May 2017, 11:04 AM | #188 |
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"Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness." - Terry Pratchett |
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5th May 2017, 01:18 PM | #189 |
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Just to let you know they also require safety equipment.
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Quite a bit but it is apparent that you are not familiar with the way things work in the military. US commanders say budget cuts could hurt response to security crisis in Asia https://www.usnews.com/news/politics...diness-in-asia Trump is on the right track to raise the military budget. |
5th May 2017, 02:30 PM | #190 |
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All Major TV Networks Block Trump’s ‘Fake News’ Ad
And of course whiny right wing snowflakes scream censorship as if Trump has some sort of right to use other's property to tell lies about them. |
5th May 2017, 03:30 PM | #191 |
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The headline says "all" major news networks, but I notice Fox was absent from the list of examples.
Could this be related to [FDA Department Gets Order From White House Saying All Office TVs Must Be Programmed To Fox News Only] ? |
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5th May 2017, 06:59 PM | #192 |
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5th May 2017, 07:15 PM | #193 |
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I recommend this little gadget: http://www.tvbgone.com/
It's a mini remote that sends "off" codes. Also, initial reports might be wrong... An FDA spokesperson got back to CBS News after our deadline, telling us, "There was no directive or memorandum from the Administration that went out to employees about broadcast news channels displaying on monitors in common areas throughout the FDA's White Oak campus." |
5th May 2017, 07:48 PM | #194 |
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5th May 2017, 07:55 PM | #195 |
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5th May 2017, 08:47 PM | #196 |
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6th May 2017, 05:54 AM | #197 |
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Kushner family hawking EB-5 Visas for investors.
https://mobile.twitter.com/emilyrauh...45047121076224 |
6th May 2017, 06:26 AM | #198 |
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I'm quite familiar with how the military spends their money, their bidding processes and budgetary constraints. And they have those lovely little house rules that prevent them from moving funds from A to B or C.
I'm also quite familiar with 'THEY LOST ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE BILLION DOLLARS AND THEY BURIED THEIR OWN AUDIT THAT SHOWED THIS". Just don't lose $125,000,000,000.00 and you have all the money for gloves, body armor, plating for the troop carriers, etc... Your solution is to throw more money at it because someone down the line is getting screwed. My solution is to throw out the guys up the line who are *********** with the funds that should be protecting front line personnel, engineers, maintenance, etc... |
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6th May 2017, 08:04 AM | #199 |
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Then, why are you arguing with me? If you truly know what you are talking about, you would know the process when waste and abuse are identified. As a military supervisor and later, a defense contractor supervisor, I have dealt in financially military affairs. You do not understand the specifics of what I am talking about, so don't pretend like you know what you are talking about. . |
6th May 2017, 08:36 AM | #200 |
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Do we have a corruption thread? If not we need one.
Apparently Murdoch and Trump are speaking weekly or daily depending on which report you read. Murdoch gives Trump his own news channel to rival Pravda. Trump pulls strings to help Murdoch? Murdoch Is Reportedly Advising Trump While DOJ Investigates Fox
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But I digress. |
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