politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
military parades have no value
For the strongest military in the world, it's degrading. This is pure government waste. Only a malignant narcissist could find value in this.
True.
But what's also true is the fighter pilot flyovers, anthem, and pledge of allegiance. All of them are problematic and should have ended long ago.
Like, I just get tired of people acting like trump came out of nowhere and shit was perfect.
We can't just keep watching the right destroy shit, then settle for a pause in the damage. We need to start fixing shit before there's nothing left to be fixed.
America replaced patriotism with nationalism decades ago, and refusing to address it will make another trump a question of "when" not "if".
I agree on the whole anthem/pledge thing, but flyovers do have at least some value in that they give pilots flight hours. Those planes would have to be in the air anyway for training, so they might as well use them for advertising via flyovers.
Or....
And this is a crazy thought...
They could do the training?
Like, you said you agree the anthem at sporting events is dumb, so when exactly will the flyovers happen?
Have you never been to an airshow?
You think that's adequate training for active fighter pilots?
That would explain the downvotes, it's not like flying commercial where you just need hours in the sky, it involves specific maneuvers and simulated dogfighting at highspeed.
It's like saying NBA players should practice by playing Cornhole, it makes sense if you don't understand either activity and think throwing something thru a hole is close enough...
Yes, hours are hours and fighter pilots and all the support staff involved need them too. When I was in the military the helicopter pilots would fly down to Florida and get lunch. They needed the hours and were going to by flying anyways.
And when I was in the military we kept having to go out to sea so they could fly helicopters on and off the ship...
Because you train as close to how you'll fight as possible.
If you're talking people doing routine patrol flights, sure it's the same as fighting. But no one is going to an airshow to watch a helicopter casually fly by.
Like, do you have any frame of reference how much it costs to do that shit in a f16 let alone f35? It's around 10k/hr just got an f16, and that's not including the pilot or mechanics, just fuel and parts.
It's not taking your Prius to the grocery store, it's taking the Lambo on a 12 hour drive for the hell of it.
But like, you all know this isn't a hypothetical we're discussing, right?
It's literally propaganda:
https://archive.thinkprogress.org/nfl-dod-national-anthem-6f682cebc7cd/
I guess it was a decade ago, some people might not remember I guess.
I think it’s cringe as propaganda, sure. I’m just saying financially, the expenditure is not bothering me. Pilots need hours and they do routine shit all the time. I don’t see this as significantly different. I don’t see that this needs to be singled out, personally. You’re free to disagree. Neither one of us is changing anything regardless of opinion.
It's not just the pilot. The take off crew, the landing, the comms, it's still a mission.
I mean shit, based on the kind of training equipment Ive seen, the pilots being in the air is just a tiny part of the effort. Especially for naval aircraft. I would assume the same for air force, but they don't typically land on boats.
What air shows come with aircraft carriers?
Like, you know they can't just roll up anywhere, that's why LHDs are the biggest at fleet week, and NYC's pier isn't exactly low quality.
Hold on, you know that TOPGUN is in Nevada right?
And the Blue Angels are probably the best known propaganda wing.
You don't train your force on the aircraft carriers, so that they don't destroy the plane the first landing attempt. What are we even arguing about again?
Flight hours are flight hours. Experience is experience. They get to advertise and feel macho for a bit. I don't like the propaganda machine anymore than anyone, but I do prefer it when the public gets at least entertainment out of it.
So you only dislike propaganda when it's not effective?
Cool story bro, but I can admit I was wrong. I didn't think this shit works on anyone, but you seem to downright enjoy it.
I gotta say man, I really don't like you. You've been antagonistic this entire conversation, and now you're pointing the finger at me for, well, what, exactly?
I enjoy airshows. I enjoy the absolute absurdness of military hardware. I look for joy in things that are absolutely dreadful. In case you haven't noticed, we're all plenty aware of how shit things are. If we all just agreed there was nothing worth fighting the fascists for, then why would this post even exist?
But now, you've distracted me from my original point. Flight hours are flight hours. Experience is experience. That has value. This military parade doesn't.
MaRcHiNg hOuRs are tRaInInG hOuRs. XP is xP. Cars and tanks are military hardware. You just love smelling jet fuel instead of diesel.
Not positive on this one, but I think pilots need to regularly fly a certain number of hours in different types of aircraft to maintain their pilot rating or improve it. If they have to fly anyway, at least this way taxpayers get to see what they're paying for instead of the same flight hours occurring over some desert or mountain range far away from people.
They do.
However the flyovers and other military displays during sporting events were originally done as a recruitment tool.
An advertisement for the military.
It has nothing to do with deliberately planning flight hours for pilots, the hours are a secondary benefit.
I've found Air Shows and AFB Open Houses to be WAY better at showcasing military assets and personnel to the public and driving recruitment. Military parades are pretty cringe.
Except to piss off your troops. I HATED being in parades to celebrate some general or another retiring. Then there's the potential for heat injuries and troops just passing out from standing so long.
Sounds about right. You really want to honor the troops then how about taking that money and cutting every active and reservist soldier a check?
Or not gutting the VA.
Trump proceeds to take “that money and cutting every active and reservist soldier”
People forget the standard advice: Don't lock up your legs, bend your knees just enough to have a little movement without it being noticeable at a distance. Gotta find the sweet spot of hydrated without overshooting into the "have to pee every 10 minutes" range too.
Seriously... I can only imagine they'll have to hurry up and wait extremely early and be out there for hours. If it were me, I'd be PISSED
What I'm hearing is that nothing would piss off these military personnel more than if a whole lot of citizens decided to show up and slow this parade to a standatill.
For the people.
It has immense propaganda value. Look at North Korea and Russia. They regularly parade their military to look powerful.
For them, they literally carry a big stick in the hopes that no one will challenge them.
Trump is doing it so that he can show the world how powerful he is. Not by military might but by forcing the government to do the parade.
This value alone is worth 10 times the cost for Trump. Remember that it's about his ego. And also remember that Trump isn't paying a damn cent. We are. He's thumbing his nose at us.
That value is worth 100 times the cost.
Correct