I hope everyone had a happy Memorial Day. It's a great holiday. Where else in the world can you honor fallen soldiers by getting drunk at the lake and eating meat with family and friends? We thank all members of the military for their service to this country.
The Oklahoma Republican Party commemorated the holiday by sharing a viral photo of a patriotic plane igniting flares for something called an "Eagle Flight."
That's powerful... especially if you're Russian. According to the fake news site Snopes, the pic is actually of a Russian plane firing off anti-missile defense flares:
In late May 2017, an image purportedly showing an “Angel Flight” releasing a flare salute in honor of fallen soldiers it was transporting home to the United States was widely circulated on social media:
Angel Flights are the U.S. Air Force planes (C-130’s) used to fly home our Fallen Soldiers.
This is the Angel Flight’s flare salute.
Today we remember all those who’ve been carried on Angel Flights and those who’ve been lost on the battlefield – everyone who has ever died protecting our great nation…
The plane featured in this viral photograph does not appear to be a United States Air Force C-130 plane. Although we have not been able to positively identify the aircraft, it appears to be a Russian Ilyushin Il-76. Both the Il-76 and C-130 release a similar flare pattern, but the aircrafts have a few obvious differences. For instance, the C-130 (right) has visible propellers, while the Il-76 (left) uses Turbofan engines:
In addition to misidentifying the aircraft, the Facebook post also claimed that the photograph showed was releasing flares in honor of the fallen troops it was carrying. Although the flares are sometimes called “angel flares” due to the pattern they leave, they are deployed primarily as a defense mechanism — not to signify that they are carrying anything other than the usual crew and supplies.
You know what, who cares? Why get lost in technicalities? It's the thought that counts. It's not like the Republican party shared an insulting false analogy that compares humans on welfare to wildlife:
Or racist thoughts about welfare...
Seriously, if the worst thing the Oklahoma GOP shares on Facebook is a pic of a Russian plane setting off flares, then we're doing ok. Oklahoma Republicans and Facebook gaffes go together like peanut butter and jelly, ham and cheese or Oklahoma lawmaker and teenage male prostitute. They're an amazing duo.
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