Nothing personal on the menu today, so here’s a dish of links & commentary:<\/p>\n
– ‘Underwear bomber’ was working for the CIA<\/a>. The Guardian’s headline confused me. Like you, probably, I thought they were talking about\u00a0the underwear bomber of 2009<\/a>. This is a new<\/em> underwear bomber, with exploding BVDs\u00a0made by the same terrorist who was behind the 2009 attempt. My takeaway is\u00a0a grim one: they’re still out there, trying to bring down airliners with variations on tactics they used before. Nothing has changed, and we can never let our guard down. Those who dream of a return to pre-9\/11 airport security are terminally\u00a0naive.<\/p>\n – Pilot Shortage: Story Time<\/a>.\u00a0Air Force pilots have to be\u00a0the whiniest pack of entitled snots this side of the United States Senate. Back in the 1970s, one of my contemporaries wrote the original “Dear Boss<\/a>” letter, which became an instant classic.\u00a0Every generation of USAF pilots since has tried to improve on it, and today’s link is the latest. I quit reading when I came to this paragraph:<\/p>\n Despite having been a mission commander responsible for the success of 80 ship packages encompassing a wide array of mission sets, and being able to effectively and efficiently integrate platforms and effects as a\u00a0Weapons Officer, you don\u2019t have enough ‘leadership experience’ as those who babysit 10 or so 18 year old airmen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Babysit airmen? BABYSIT?\u00a0USAF pilots don’t command officers and enlisted troops until they become\u00a0lieutenant colonels, and that’s only if they land a coveted squadron commander slot. Meanwhile, their contemporaries in the other military services have been commanding troops since their lieutenant days. To belittle\u00a0command by calling it “babysitting” is incredibly offensive, not to mention the demeaning message it sends to the enlisted force. Go fly for the fucking airlines, you coddled little shit.<\/p>\n – DOJ expanding controversial asset seizures programs<\/a>. This sure looks like a return to the bad old days of just a few years ago, when police departments in small towns across America financed\u00a0new patrol cars and fancy equipment through the time-honored practice of highway robbery. Looks like it’s going to be official policy now, thanks to Jeff Sessions. If I read it right though, DOJ\u00a0may just have given an\u00a0enterprising\u00a0New York attorney general legal justification for seizing\u00a0the assets of a prominent\u00a0real estate developer who’s under investigation for fraud, money laundering, and espionage. Swords have two edges, no?<\/p>\n