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My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

nones-leonard.medium.com

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Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#201

Post by shkkmo »

phpisthebest wrote: post #178
shkkmo wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reducing the federal government to that scale would involve getting ride or the DOD and almost every federal agency. It is "radical" because that position is completely unacceptable to the vast majority, while parts of that plan might appeal to parts of the political spectrum, taken as a whole it is a plan thay has miniscule support. Thus, it is considered a radical view point.

hmmm... Following the Constitution is Radical now... The US Navy is the only constitutional branch of the DoD. How is that for being radical.

Yes, advocating such widespread changes to society on the basis of a specific interpretation/understanding of the constitution (the root document of our government) fits the meanings of the word almost too perfectly:

> Arising from or going to a root or source; basic.

>Departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme or drastic.

> Relating to or advocating fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions.

> designed to remove the root of a disease or all diseased and potentially diseased tissue

> of or relating to the origin

> favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions

> Favoring fundamental change, or change at the root cause of a matter.

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#202

Post by dragonwriter »

leonard_ wrote: post #200

> ground to air missels were aimed at ME If ground-to-air missiles are ready to protect the White House way back in the ‘70s or ‘80s, then why were none used to defend The Pentagon from the huge aircraft that crashed into it in 2001?

> If ground-to-air missiles are ready to protect the White House way back in the ’70s or ’80s, then why were none used to defend The Pentagon from the huge aircraft that crashed into it in 2001?

The White House is not the Pentagon.

Also, while there have been rumors for decades of White House SAMs for decades (usually MANPADS – but sometimes something more capable), they’ve never been officially acknowledged and, and AFAICT the only thing that has ever become non-speculative public knowledge was an Avenger system that was photographed on a rooftop across the street during an alert in 2019 (by which time it was also known that D.C. had a post- and motivated-by- 9/11 layered air defense system, including NASAMS batteries.

But when this occurred, “before cell phones were invented”, if it wasn’t an embellishment added to the story, it was probably just something that was said to drive in the point “don’t ever make that mistake again”.

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#203

Post by ocdtrekkie »

etothepii wrote: post #101
wolrah wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Washington National has no 18, but only a 19 Depending on how long ago this happened that could be the same runway. There was an article that made the front page here in the last month or so about how the movement of the magnetic poles requires runway names to be adjusted periodically. This isn't that same article, I didn't feel like digging through my history, but it explains the same topic. https://www.ncei.noaa.…

Indeed but CGPGrey explains it in excruciating detail on YouTube. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qD6bPNZRRbQ

I always find it funny how shortly after CGPGrey posts about a thing (or John Oliver does a segment on LWT), a large number of commenters will speak on it as experts at the next available opportunity. It's obvious how many of us watch the same channels.

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#204

Post by seb1204 »

dctoedt wrote: post #156
mulmen wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because I have more power as a voter and constituent to influence policies that affect me. At a national level I am 1 of 331,900,000. At a state level I am 1 of 7,739,000. At a county level I am one of 2,252,000. At a city level I am one of 733,919. At a neighborhood level I am one of 82,123. I have four orders of magnitude more influence over my city council rep than I do over my president.

> Because I have more power as a voter and constituent to influence policies that affect me. If only things actually worked that way. The vast majority of voters don't exercise that power. Moreover, state and local governments are more vulnerable to capture by rent-seekers and other special-interest groups bent on shaping public policy to suit their desires.

They should and education and empowering is needed, globally. Democracy in all forms and colours needs participation. The minimum level of participation is to vote in all occasions.

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#205

Post by judge2020 »

phpisthebest wrote: post #178
shkkmo wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reducing the federal government to that scale would involve getting ride or the DOD and almost every federal agency. It is "radical" because that position is completely unacceptable to the vast majority, while parts of that plan might appeal to parts of the political spectrum, taken as a whole it is a plan thay has miniscule support. Thus, it is considered a radical view point.

hmmm... Following the Constitution is Radical now... The US Navy is the only constitutional branch of the DoD. How is that for being radical.

I don't think they had to defend against threats from the air or space when they drafted the constitution. Nor were spies all that useful outside of wartime.

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#206

Post by judge2020 »

mulmen wrote: post #137
beebmam wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the federal government should be reduced in power, then why should state or local governments have any more power over individuals?

Because I have more power as a voter and constituent to influence policies that affect me. At a national level I am 1 of 331,900,000. At a state level I am 1 of 7,739,000. At a county level I am one of 2,252,000. At a city level I am one of 733,919. At a neighborhood level I am one of 82,123. I have four orders of magnitude more influence over my city council rep than I do over my president.

> I have four orders of magnitude more influence over my city council rep than I do over my president.

And yet you need the federal government to defend your right to select which state to live in if you decide that you want to move https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saenz_v._Roe

Believe it or not, the current situation yields tons of power to your state, just not powers that involve anything outside of the state (wars, interstate commerce, etc)

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#207

Post by themadturk »

phpisthebest wrote: post #78
pixl97 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how do you plan to deal with the continuation of government and nuclear weapon problem?

>>how do you plan to deal with the continuation of government Federalism. The Federal Government does far too much and most of its function should be left to State and Local governments. >>and nuclear weapon problem? MAD is a terrible strategy, and I dont think our Nuclear weapons serve the function many believe they do.

> MAD is a terrible strategy

Terrible, but it has worked so far.

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#208

Post by mike_d »

midasuni wrote: post #174
pixl97 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how do you plan to deal with the continuation of government and nuclear weapon problem?

The U.K. has a large number of nuclear missiles. The prime minister of the U.K. flies budget airlines https://www.aviationbusinessme.com/airports/airport-business... Goes shopping in foreign supermarkets https://greekreporter.com/2022/08/13/boris-johnson-spotted-s...

There is also a standing order that if the UK government is decapitated, its nuclear submarines are to take orders from the US president.

(The actual orders are of course secret and sealed until that time comes, and could be AU/NZ/CA depending on the persuasion of that particular prime minister. However the US is the most logical choice as the other countries have no nukes themselves and would likely be looking to the US for guidance anyway.)

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#209

Post by sgjohnson »

phpisthebest wrote: post #78
pixl97 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how do you plan to deal with the continuation of government and nuclear weapon problem?

>>how do you plan to deal with the continuation of government Federalism. The Federal Government does far too much and most of its function should be left to State and Local governments. >>and nuclear weapon problem? MAD is a terrible strategy, and I dont think our Nuclear weapons serve the function many believe they do.

> MAD is a terrible strategy, and I dont think our Nuclear weapons serve the function many believe they do.

What do you propose as an alternative? Mutual disarmament?

Once you have nuclear weapons, there’s no reason whatsoever to EVER give them up.

Re: My grandfather was almost shot down at the White House (2018)

#210

Post by mike_d »

thrwwy95fab9d1 wrote: post #91
squallgmn wrote: post #84

Washington National doesn't have any runways that run perpendicular to the Potomac, so if the pilot maintained runway heading on takeoff, he should have already been more or less aligned with the river going north or south. The story says he landed on a 6000 foot runway. There are three runways on the field: 1/19 is 7169 feet, 15/33 is 5204 feet, and 4/22 is 5000 feet. It's possible the runways were configured differ…

I had the same skeptical reaction to this story. The runways may have changed numbers (I’m not sure how to confirm this), but if they were crossing the river taking off from what is now runway 19, they seriously deviated from their flight plan and deserved the call.

> The runways may have changed numbers (I’m not sure how to confirm this)

Runways and named by taking the degrees from magnetic north and dropping the last digit. Parallel runways will be designated (for example) 31L(eft) 31C(enter) 31R(right).

You'd need to rotate the runway to rename it.

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