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But you’re not pointing out any examples of hypocrisy that actually happened. You’re pointing out hypocrisy that you assume will happen because (real hypocrisy alert) you always assume the worst in anyone who isn’t a staunch right winger. Now here’s something to get through your skull - just because you’re level of public outrage would be 100% flipped if the situation was reversed, that isn’t grounds for assuming everyone else is as hypocritical as you. (By the way - do you even realise how many hypotheticals you’ve had to use to make your point? If Clinton did this, if Clinton did that, if Obama did this, if Biden did that - but none of them are things that Clinton, Biden or Obama did and all of them are things that Trump did. When do you stop to consider that there might be a good reason for more outrage to be directed at Trump?)

They flew the coop if, that is, any were ever in the coop at all. I'm actually getting to where I think these giant deficits, at the world economy level, don't matter much at certain growth stages. Like Brentworld CO2 levels, maybe a fair bit more right now would be salubrious. Money is cheap so borrowing big to repair our crumbling infrastructure, build out super fast and upgradable digital networks everywhere, new energy technologies, free Grad School for high GPA students, those sorts of national investments, might be good plays. Maybe we should be building out at a loss as if we were prepping for an IPO. The big win would be that at some point, like when even Argentina won't buy our T-Bills, the debt would be so scary, and it obviously is not at the moment, that fiscal responsibility would return. Like the buried in debt dude down the street who just realized he can not afford a third Corvette, maybe we'll forego a 14th Nuclear powered Aircraft Carrier Battle Group or another it's just a teeny war in some place like Yemen, which as I just noticed typing it, is an anagram of Enemy. Hmm...

Not sure what you mean by ground hungry; I seem to descend at a reasonable rate. As for the flare, I couldn't land any canopy well until I took a canopy control course, where I learned the correct way to flare. I've jumped both 7 and 9 cells since and landed fine using the same flare technique. Just out of curiosity, what is your wingloading?

Cities don't vote. Fields of corn don't vote. Cattle don't vote. Deserts don't vote. Mountains don't vote. PEOPLE VOTE. "Government of the people, by the people, for the people."

It seems to me that the entire "who is left, who is right, who is middle" is a quite useless discussion based on an artificial scale that doesn't have any subtlety or even reality at all, other than being somewhat pre-determined by our 2-party system. First, who defines where the middle is? That is entirely subjective (unless one defines it as a statistical bell-curve that only depends on the attitudes of people in the nation, but then would a somewhat less extreme Nazi in Germany in the 1930s have been a centrist??? Or Lenin in 1924 in Russia?) More importantly, it flattens the entire political spectrum to a one-dimensional scale, and it isn't surprising that, if one accepts this scale, one sometimes finds oneself defending absurd positions, simply because they (seem to!) align with the "side" one favors. I like the idea of multiple scales forming a multidimensional space that allows for much more interesting definitions of where someone's political viewpoint falls. Here are a few: 1.authoritarian <-> liberal (somewhat self-explanatory; "liberal" doesn't have the same meaning here as in the 1-dimensional scale, of course) 2. interiorist <-> exteriorist (=looking for the problem/solution primarily in the interior (i.e. people are bad, need to have better morals) versus the exterior (society disadvantages people, gun laws need to be changed, etc)) 3. stepping on the gas <-> stepping on the brakes (we need to look forward and keep changing society & accept new ideas (lgbtq rights, new renewable energy technologies, etc) versus we need to preserve our traditional values (religion, traditional marriage, traditional morals, etc.) 4. individual <-> collective (individual rights and freedoms should trump everything versus collective rights are more important (Spok: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few--or the one") There are probably some more. This way a "right wing libertarian" may be: 1. Towards the liberal end 2. Towards the interiorist end 3. middle but leaning towards stepping on the brakes 4. extreme individual A different "right wing" person may be: 1. extreme authoritarian 2. interiorist 3. extreme stepping on the brakes 4. center (or even collectivist--placing his religious community and its rules ahead of his individual freedoms) Now, of course: When we're at the ballot box, we'll still need to pick one of two sides, at least if we live and vote in the US (unless we want to make our vote somewhat irrelevant) BUT we don't have to allow this to define our entire political persona, do we?

What's wrong with heeding the Constitution?

This has been discussed on here before, so if you can find the other thread you'll see more suggestions. But yeah, know what the experience requirements are for your country and how well you meet those. Also, a question is what kind of flying do you normally do, belly or freeflying? Freeflying skills can certainly help in some instances, but it's primarily a belly flying game. Especially if you're normally a freeflyer, this is what I'd suggest: All of the above, plus - It's been said by a lot of old-schoolers, myself included, that a great training ground for AFF is 4-way. Find 3 like-minded people and start a 4-way team. Doesn't matter about actually competing, just practice that discipline of skydiving. You'll get current/proficient at linked exits, piece flying, close-proximity slot flying, and other belly skills that you'll use in AFF, and do so in a relaxed, fun manner that doesn't feel like you're burning a lot of money and jumps on 'training'. Then, when you're closer to taking the course, get coaching in AFF specific skills like botched exits, spin stops, rollovers and what-not. You can do some of that in the tunnel, but the tunnel negates the reality that you sometimes have to chase unruly students across the sky or through fall-rate variations. Good luck.

In addition to what Joe said, do some jumps working on belly exits. Exits and funnel recovery are very important skills for AFF instructors, as students routinely screw up the exit. Practice spin stop and roll over techniques if you can find an experienced AFF instructor to jump with you. Tunnel time is great for working on flying close, fall rate and spin stops. I don't know if roll overs can be practiced there. Hot tip for the course is to bring several jumpsuits - a fast suit and a slow suit at the minimum - and weights if you might need them. Dress for success - you might need a slower or faster suit to stay with the evaluator.

No Pix,but "I was in the Parking lot!!!!!" "HarHarHar!!!" and heard the "Crash!!!!" And NO!! "BOB" was not in the Van!!!...'Was gettin' some gear for the next jump.... 'Just did a "AFF Level I" with this Gorgeous Ginger!!! The Crash put the quanus on our Level II dive that day!!!!! Audentes, Fortuna, Ivat, skybill-out PS "Old Woman!!" somewhere in my archives I have a "Snapshot" of you standing by Sq. 1... 'will let you know when I find it!!!