Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

MAGA darling of a few weeks ago now has them spitting fire. How dare this Canuck defy Dear Leader?!? Show him who’s boss, my President!!!

[Jeff Buchanan]

I too found those numbers on the amount of money the US government provides to D states in the WSJ article that Geezer posted shocking.

I don't claim to know how all the stuff the Trump administration is pulling out will affect the economy, employment, federal spending or consumer costs. But, I'll state this again: We have bloated administrative states at both the federal, and in the case of D run states, the state level. Staff reductions can be painful to the folks that lose their jobs. But there is absolutely no arguing, none, that cutting payrolls will reduce costs - a steadfast business principle that ends up improving efficiency and productivity. In the case of government payrolls, we're paying for that largesse.

Trump seems appropriately focused, IMO, on what the left characterizes as "stupid, unsupported and unprincipled" executive actions by DJT to reduce the size of government. Previous administrations, mostly conservatives, some fiscally minded Ds, have campaigned on a promise to do that. In my memory, this is the first president, it seems to me, to actually be doing it. No wonder the left is hysterically waving their arms with the hysterical megaphoning leftist press adding to that. Some of what Trump has done so far may or maynot be legal. That will sort itself out as the left goes to court to try to preserve their identity and culture. Conservative judges hearing these cases are not likely to be sympathetic advocates to the left's whining.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Almost 40% of New York’s budget is supplied by the Feds?

Shocking. I’m trembling. I bet in ruby red states like Mississippi, Kentucky, and West Virginia it’s only 2% or something. Middle America, real America, knows how to be self sufficient.

:::Looks it up:::

Oh

[Dr. Strangelove]

An hour before this tweet he called Todd Young a Deep State puppet

[THE_WIZARD_]

Almost 40% of New York’s budget is supplied by the Feds?

Shocking. I’m trembling. I bet in ruby red states like Mississippi, Kentucky, and West Virginia it’s only 2% or something. Middle America, real America, knows how to be self sufficient.

:::Looks it up:::

Oh

Well according to Prog and CBS diva Margaret Brennan states like you mention aren't smart enough to help themselves...only Progs like you and Margaret believe the government does things better than the individual...

[Da Geezer]

Truest words you have spoken in at least 30 minutes, Wiz.

The issue is Medicaid. If you can make $ 3.00-9.00 for every state dollar spent, no wonder Dem states are encouraging everyone to get in the program. Roughly 25% of the population of the US is on Medicaid. It is not a small thing.

You know, sometimes an addict has to go "cold turkey" in order to stop their addiction. Just stop Medicaid funding to the states and see where we go from there.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Face it Geezer...without the cradle to grave nanny state we would all die. All hail Washington DC!!

[CGVT]

I got mine. Fuck them bastards. Let em eat cake!

[THE_WIZARD_]

Speaking of Progs who love the deep, bloated nanny state...hey CGVT!

[Jeff Buchanan]

More on the Army Blackhawk crew: The pilot, Captain Rebecca Lobach, probably occupied the right seat (the Pilot in Command (PIC) seat which is the left seat in fixed wing aircraft) on the incident Blackhawk. The left seat was probably occupied by a Chief Warrant Officer (CWO). Lots of Army Warrants are Army helo pilots so, that's not uncommon. Both crew were reported as experienced. Uh no. Lobach had 500 hours of total time. I don't think this was time in type and by my calculation given the Army's basic helo flight training of 300-350 hours over 18 months, Loback had less than 200 hours in type.

Those pilots in Naval aviation parlance are called "nuggets." A nugget is a new guy with basic skills in type still developing. The co-pilot on this flight, Chief Warrant Officer, Andrew Eaves, had 1000 total hours. That equates to maybe 700 hours in type. He'd be considered "experienced" but that term is relative. By the time I was a USMC Captain, flying A6s, I had over 1500 hours in type and around 2000 hours total. When I retired at 20y, I had just over 3000 hours in type and 4000+ hours total time - that's experienced.

CWO Eaves is thought to have been conducting a "check ride" with Loback. Those rides are the pathway to pilot quals, e.g., PIC or NOE (nap of the earth) qual at very low altitudes, like 50 feet maybe less in a helo. This wasn't the risky NOE qual; more likely an instrument, navigation qual or PIC qual. Like anything in aviation training, commercial or military, the pucker factor rises when you're on a check ride and that can hinder performance. It's suggested that may have been a factor as evidenced by Lobach flying 150 feet above her expected route altitude in restricted airspace.

Nobody that I ever knew on active duty fucked around with administering a check or qualification flight and expected the qualee to be prepared with both knowledge and flight skills. Records of these are meticulously maintained by your OPS Section. As a flight instructor, it you qual a guy on a check flight that isn't ready for the qual you're administering, you're signing off on a potential death certificate for that guy. Guarantee, get unjustified quals and you'll fuck something up going forward on a mission you're not really qualified to fly. It happens.

This kind of stuff will all come out in the Army's Accident investigation. The NTSB isn't directly involved in this. Two distinctly separate Aviation Accident Reports will be submitted. In the case of the AA incident flight investigation by the NTSB it goes into the NTSB database - a repository of commercial aviation safety concerns. For the Army investigation it is convened and completed at the Aviation unit level. From there it will go through the chain of command and end up at the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, Accident Investigations Division. There will be cross talk but the accident reports are separate.

Keep in mind accident investigations are intended to improve safety not to hammer involved crews. I don't know how the Army does it, probably similar to my Naval aviation experience in all likelihood. In the case of deceased aircrew, there's no boards, no punishment. It's over. If you survive, these days, expect to have your wings pulled by what we used to call a "speedy boards." (Student) Pilot Disposition Boards). The "guilty" will be punished and if you trash million or billion dollar aircraft you're done and almost always without mitigating factors that might keep you in the cockpit. Post aviation accident investigations involving Commercial aircrew leave it up to the company to decide what your future in the cockpit might be. Although you may remember the movie about Sully Sullenberger who was heroic in the US airways Hudson River crash but NTSB politics and a guy on that board that unsuccessfully tired to nail Sully. Didn't work, he flew commercially another 5 years I believe.