Politics And Current Events

[tifosi77]

Sure it can be cut, but sensibly(not sequestration). Just slashing it to slash it would devastate our economy.

And this goes back to the reason why the tax code is co overly complicated; defense spending and appropriations are doled out to satisfy the needs (whims?) of individual Representatives and Senators, most certainly not the strategic defense needs of the nation.

Look, 5AF, I've been patient with you thus far. But after reading nobody's post, you had to know this was coming.

Epic F-35 rant.

Subcontractors were selected not on a matter of qualification - some have proved comically unable to perform on their contracts - but because it allowed Lockheed to put a direct fiscal incentive for each member of Congress into the continuation of that bloated, useless gas bag of a jet. The only states with no direct financial stake in the program are Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska and Wyoming. You could take every employee of every contractor and sub on the program (even the ones not working on the F-35) and cut them a $1 million check, and it would only be a bout 1/3 of what has been spent on this sh!t biscuit. But because there is a related contractor in something like 410 of the 435 Congressional districts, the program lives on. And we rarely hear Republicans chirping about this gem, quite the opposite, really; like when budget 'hawk' John Boehner voted in favor of a second engine (the GE F136) for the JSF..... one that the Air Force, Navy and Marines all said they didn't need or even want...... why, in the midst of budget cutting mania, would he do that? Oh, riiiiiiiiiight........ the engine would have been built in his district in Ohio, derh.

It is seven years behind schedule; is over budget by a factor of 70% (and it was budgeted to be, by far, the most expensive weapons system ever acquired by the Pentagon); it is out-performed by the 30-year old aircraft it will be replacing in a number of metrics; once the F-22 program was killed early, the stealth component of the F-35 became neutered, meaning all the design compromises on the jet that sacrificed performance at the alter of 'low observability' have been rendered moot; the entire fleet has been grounded something like five times in as many years; every time Lockheed puts out a press release crowing about meeting this or that testing objective, remind yourself that the target of that particular metric was probably lowered at least two times, and was meant to be met years prior; they are so far behind schedule they are planning on finishing the flight testing of the jet using operational units.

I met an F-35 test pilot a few weeks ago, and he addressed some of the performance concerns of the jet thusly: If you compare it to a pure fighter, then it's going to come out second best (his words). But that's not what this jet is, so you can't think of it this way. Um, sir? THAT'S THE ROLE THE JET IS MEANT TO PERFORM. It's replacing F-16s and F/A-18s in part in their air-to-air capacity. If JSF is inferior to those aircraft - which are themselves no longer the cream of AA crop in the world - then, yes, that's a big effing problem.

If this were a social safety net program, it would be the lead story on Fox News every night of the week. But because it's 'defense'.................................. *crickets*

Whew...... not how I expected to start my day.

[PFiDC]

[tifosi77]

Sure it can be cut, but sensibly(not sequestration). Just slashing it to slash it would devastate our economy.

And further to that point, I think if the acquisitions process were controlled more by an independent agency and less by Congress, we could probably cut 'defense' spending by 50% or more and still get the same bang for the buck. It's just that bloated and inefficient. To reiterate a point from the RantPost, if this were a social safety net program, Republicans would never shut up about it.

But I agree, sequestration was stupid. You ended up having things like the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds and the nine solo aircraft demonstration teams in the Air Force, Navy and Marines get grounded. Combined, it saved probably something like $100 million.... which, in the context of defense spending, would be like me bolstering my retirement fund by no longer leaving my change in coins behind a the take-a-penny-leave-a-penny bin at the gas station. Doesn't really address the question on the appropriate scale.

[tifosi77]

What do you expect of me?!?!?!

[PFiDC]

What do you expect of me?!?!?!

Context so I don't seem so dooshy...

[Freddy Rumsen]

How nobody on the HRC campaign saw this...............

It is not just an arrow, but a RED arrow pointing to the right.

[columbia]

[MR25]

To be fair, if they had the arrow pointing to the left, some could/would construe it has Hillary wanting to move the country backwards instead of forwards.

For some reason, nearly every time you have an arrow and you want to have it denoting forward movement, it's pointing to the right.

[AuthorTony]

How nobody on the HRC campaign saw this...............

They've known she was going to run for the last 2-6 years. I can't believe that was the best logo they could come up with. It's really hideous.

[PFiDC]

Horrible meme is horrible but...



EDIT: AND with a spelling error

[columbia]

Jeb and maybe Dr. Ben Carson seem to be the only GOP contenders who don't come across with a persistet angry tone. I'm not sure that the general electorate is interested in that vibe.

[columbia]

I forgot John Kasich, but he doesn't have a chance....too bad, because I'd vote for him.

[obhave]

Enough is enough.

Our rights as conservative Americans are being squashed more and more everyday. Apparently if you are white (or close to it), you have a job, go to church, and own a gun... That translates into racists, privileged, bigot, conspiracy theorist. Too many of us say nothing. Well, freedom of speech isn't just for Liberals, THEY are the ones that need to learn to "co-exist", THEY are the ones who need to WORK to be "equal"

Therefore, in the spirit of freedom (whats left of it) and MY right to operate MY business as I see fit:

Guns ARE allowed at DIESELTEC, so much so in fact that we will offer a discount if you bring in your gun. ("On duty" cops are excluded because thats not their gun, thats my gun bought with my money, off duty absolutely!)

I am a Christian. My company will be run in a way that reflects that. Dishonesty, thievery, immoral behavior, etc. will not be welcomed at MY place of business. (I would not hesitate to refuse service to an openly gay person or persons. Homosexuality is wrong, period. If you want to argue this fact with me then I will put your vehicle together with all bolts and no nuts and you can see how that works.)

We, as a team, work hard for whats ours. We are not protected by unions or contracts. We absolutely MUST provide our customers with a service level that would make them come back or tell their friends about us. We don't have a "right", and we are not "entitled" to our pay. We must EARN it.

I am not racists, you are for assuming I am, however, I am really quick to judge... if it acts like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

It IS a free country and I support your right to your opinion, that being said, if you don't like what I have to say I reserve that same right to tell you to go cry to your momma (cause your daddy would probably smack ya', better yet, yes, go tell your dad.)

He says liberals need to learn to coexist, yet he is the one who won't service openly gay people. This goes beyond the not servicing a gay wedding (an action), to just openingly opposing the person themself. Can anything be done, legally, to this business?

[obhave]

And before nobody brings it up, yes the death threats he has recieved are wrong. But that doesn't excuse his "no gays allowed" policy.

[PFiDC]

I dont even know who said that or what it is....

[obhave]

I dont even know who said that or what it is....

Didn't realize I didn't include a link.

http://fox17online.com/2015/04/15/grand ... stay-away/

The owner of DIESELTEC in Michigan came out with this statement

[PFiDC]

He's mad. I get that. He's not going about expressing it very well IMO. And then to say you would not serve an openly gay person...that is where the line was crossed. Everything else is standard GOP rhetoric and nothing new.

I am a Christian. My company will be run in a way that reflects that

Then serve gay people ya ******.

[count2infinity]

lol, that guy is a nut.

[columbia]

I am really quick to judge

[grunthy]

Again. The simple solution is to just not go to that business if you disagree.

[grunthy]

If you want your business to be bigoted, go ahead.

[grunthy]

And yes tif, the F35 is an embarrassment. I'm fairly certain a lot in the government have said so. But what do you want them to do? They've poured so much money into it, they have to finish it now.

[tifosi77]

lol, that guy is a nut.

Apparently all nuts and no bolts.

[tifosi77]

And yes tif, the F35 is an embarrassment. I'm fairly certain a lot in the government have said so. But what do you want them to do? They've poured so much money into it, they have to finish it now.

No, they don't.

Because it isn't a matter of simply finishing the program; the US and its allies will be - and this is if things go according to plan - saddled with a jet that is already obsolete in terms of performance for the next 50 years if they go forward with JSF. That whole good-money-after-bad thing rings true here.

The majority of the problems the program has encountered can be sorted into two buckets: 1) The fact that this aircraft's systems are governed by millions of lines of code that are constantly being rewritten, and 2) at the risk of offending the Teufelshunde in our midst, the insistence by the Marine Corps for a VTOL capability and the attendant insistence by the DoD that this capability be included as part of the JSF. After the stealth stuff, the VTOL requirement has ruined the jet.

There are some really good things about the F-35: The sensors (particularly the passive stuff), the way the data is presented to the pilot (that $2 million/unit helmet), the way the jet will (eventually) be able to talk to other jets securely..... those are all technologies that can be packaged into a clean-sheet design for a 4.5 generation conventional strike fighter.

And I'm aware that I'm a broken record on this topic. But I consider the F-35 to be among the 3 or 4 biggest follies our government has undertaken in my lifetime.

[Freddy Rumsen]

I agree with tifosi on the jet.