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Not dumb. Trump stated that if Ebola even caused 1 death in the US Obama should resign. What is dumb is Republicans not holding to that sentiment with 170,000 dead and climbing. A chunk of those dead are due to the current president's mismanagement of the pandemic. But hey, Benghazi and buttery males right......

You remind me of Sarah Palin. There are around 54 nations in Africa.

No, not that one. That would be a very stupid conspiracy theory given that A ) neither of her parents are Puerto Rican, and B ) Puerto Ricans are Americans.

Funny, no-one has ever claimed that every other VP in history was only picked to go after the European vote. Congratulations on being racist enough to assume that Harris has nothing to offer but her colour.

I do not wish to comment on the instructors performance. If you feel is was deficient it would be best to review the jump with the student, yourself and the instructor in order to identify problems and find solutions. If the instructor is truly incompetent not having your friend jump with fixes nothing and may leave others exposed.

I do not know the details of this Video or the instructor but the Instructors performance was very poor on this jump to say the least He was not anywhere near to be in a position to assist the Student when it mattered most. but as Skybitch mentioned, i also be concerned about the student and or his training. make 2 attempts to pull then go for reserve deployment. some one should pull the instructor aside and have a talk with with him about his/ her performance and get their side of the story. Glad the AAD worked

People seem to be spending a great deal of meaningless effort/words/time on these responses. A Q supporter by definition is only going to be one of two things: a) Delusional - using logic or reason in an argument with them is pointless, they're unwilling and/or unable to engage rationally. b) Trolling - using logic or reason in an argument with them is pointless, your frustration is their goal. Stop feeding them.

Shusssssssh you're confusing the masses that vote for trump.

USPS let's 46 states know they aren't capable of delivering mail within election time frame. This truly is Banana Republic, shithole country level..... Sorry, we aren't capable of running an effective mail delivery service.

Wrong. You absolutely stated that Biden’s actions wrt Ukraine were corrupt, with no ‘think’ ‘believe’ or ‘maybe’ qualifiers if any kind.

Hi olof, Some thoughts on those. I would sew that portion that is sticking out ( at about 3 o'clock & pointing to the right in the photo ) in with that now-broken stitching to keep things tidy. Also, I would consider some stitching that would take a pretty good force initially, prior to going to the long sacrificial stitching shown, that is destroyed. Possibly, use a bartack or zig-zag at the top of the stitching. Then you would have to have experience that 'pretty good force' before anything comes undone. Just some random thoughts, Jerry Baumchen

Unfortunately religion and especially Christianity has the insane underlying principle of “faith” and the sheep are actively taught not to question anything. They prey on the vulnerable and easily manipulated. I’m pretty happy to generalise that most church leaders are predators, especially of the evangelical flavour.

Let's say they release a vaccine prematurely. Initially it prevents deaths. It also kills 1000 people. "No problem!" some people say. "It will still save more people than it kills." But then you discover that no one else is willing to take it - because the news is covering nothing except the 12 year old girl who died from Bill Gates' Deadly Vaccine. And Bill Gates has stated he wants to reduce the world's population! Did you know that? So then you get the next vaccine out - "but this one really IS perfectly safe!" And again no one is willing to take it because you said something similar about the last one. Doctors operate under a principle of "do no harm" - in other words, do not employ treatments that have a significant risk of injury or death. If this disease was 100% fatal (or even 25% fatal) then the level of risk we'd be willing to accept in a vaccine would be high indeed. But it's not. It's between .05% and .2% fatal depending on which group you are looking at. So the trials will have to continue until we can demonstrate a vaccine that is both effective and safe. Fortunately that process is going very quickly, and it's likely we'll have something within 6-9 months. If we can keep deaths down in the meantime by distancing, masks, hygiene and tracing, then we could see less than 50,000 additional deaths. Of course lots of people are going to refuse to do that so we will see another 150,000 or so.

Late night posting while exhausted and I forgot which continent was where. My mistake, thanks. I cannot see Russia from my house though.

I don't think "exceptable" is what you mean.

Southerners considered 1/16th black to be black. Harris is (to quote Jamaican Sarah Cooper speaking about herself) black enough to be called the N-word, but not black enough to use it.

Your contribution to the ugliness is duly noted. I'm more concerned with how ugly it may get AFTER the election.

Well the job and economic growth of eight years under Obama. Were undone by trump in 31/2, sort of like a NJ casino bankruptcy.

Hook, line and sinker. How do you imagine that Canada, the UK, the EU even function. For two decades the GOP and the right has had that line of B.S. With a little FOX emphasis thrown in. The US can't compete with all the taxes and regulation. With all the welfare. Then along came trump with tariffs on those "unfair Canadians". Tariffs on EU imports. With all the environmental, social programs how is it that the EU, Germany and Canada even trade? trump slashed taxes tossed out every environmental regulation and slashed almost every regulation. Yet US exports have hardly budged. Why do those lazy Canadian welfare, lazy Swedish welfare, lazy UK welfare recipients even bother to get out of bed? The benefits in all those US competitors have much superior social benefits. The entire EU must be wards of the state with a little crime on the side eh? Whats your theory?

I have maybe 50 or so on the reline. I didn't do anything to it during my downtime less leave it in the closet unpacked. I think I will take it in to a rigger to get checked.

Which from every angle requires an agenda that is anti-American as well as a disconnect from reality.

After 3 consecutive hard openings as you describe, don't jump it anymore - a visit to somebody/somewhere for diagnosis is appropriate. Serious inspection with the possibility of test jumping by someone else should be considered.

If you haven't already, I'd have a trusted rigger look it over. I might be that first "really hard" opening caused some rib damage that's now allowing your canopy to inflate too quickly. Just a wild-ass guess. These weren't the first jumps post-reline, right?

Did you change/do anything at all regarding your equipment during your break? If both you and someone else packed it and you got hard openings I guess we can dismiss packing issues (though it could be a fairly unlucky coincidence). Maybe have someone stay with you on the jump and record your opening?

Personally? It guides my morality and worldview. I didn't know anything about how people in sub-Saharan Africa lived, and imagined they were all poor, ignorant people who lived in poverty and misery. Then I spent a month there and learned they were some of the happiest people around. When I told them I was a skydiver, one of the kids pantomined an entire RW skydive, including throwing a hand-deploy at the end and releasing the brakes. They all spoke three languages. I thought the US was a good influence there. And I discovered in the cities and larger towns that everyone hated Americans, because they'd come in and steamroller over local businesses, homesteads and farms (often literally) in the name of profit. "It never their fault" one guy told me, who explained that Americans always blamed their boss, or the shareholders, or the (Niger) government for whatever trouble they caused. But when you got to the smaller towns, the only Americans people had seen were Peace Corps volunteers. And they saw Peace Corps volunteers as sometimes misguided, sometimes clueless, but clearly there because they were trying to help. And thus I was welcomed with open arms. And that taught me that ultimately it's what you do, not what you say or what you profess to believe, that determines your morality and how you are seen by the world. I thought I was "woke" and really understood people. Then I managed a transgender woman and realized that I really didn't understand much of anything, and I never would, since I'm a straight cis middle aged white guy. But that that was OK as long as I could accept that her point of view was as valid as mine - even if it didn't make sense to me. I've known people who were great guys, would do anything for you, who turned out to be pedophiles. I've known miserable people who would curse you and never say a good word about anyone - but years after they were gone, I found out they'd been supporting several families and paying for their kid's college education for no reason other than he thought they deserved a chance. From that I learned to not judge people so quickly. True of Barack Obama, too. (Or as you preferred, Barack HUSSEIN Obama.) But I bet you don't think that the reaction to his name defines his significance.

Were you having hard openings before your 6 month break too, or are they new since you came back - when did the hard openings start?

For many such people that thinking only holds until they need something. The Ayn Rand institute just applied for (and accepted) PPP funding. A quote from a Tea Partyer from 2010, when asked how she reconciled her support for the Tea Party while she was collecting Social Security: "That’s a conundrum, isn’t it? I don’t know what to say. Maybe I don’t want smaller government. I guess I want smaller government and my Social Security. I didn’t look at it from the perspective of losing things I need. I think I’ve changed my mind." We here in the US have the luxury of espousing a purely libertarian viewpoint precisely because so many of our needs are provided for by the government. A libertarian can gripe about masks, taxes, the nanny state, governmental overreach etc while driving to work on public roads, secure in the knowledge that if he gets in an accident, emergency services will be there for him. That's just part of the background now, something many people don't think about. (Until they are forced to, as in the above example.)

Like what. If it's related to Trump then I'd prefer that our Executive Branch spend their time on better things. Trump wasted enough of our national capital on pissing matches and there are plenty of others to pursue valid legal issues.

At this point, I don't care about that. I'm more concerned with the pick being the one that enhances his chances for winning the election THIS year.

May 29, 1980, me and Mike R. jumped it at night and I got ElCap #69 and NightCap#4 from Carl Boenish. Bullit Bob and BJ Worth were NightCap #s 1 and 2. Me and Mike went back a couple weeks later, 6-1-1980 with a photographer we hung over the edge on a rope and and jumped just after sunrise. Went back a third time a few weeks later and did a night jump with Charlie Hancock. When we got to the top there were three other Ghouls there, Mad Mark, Dead Fred and Tim Yeary. They said two women from So Cal jumped at sunset, but they only saw one parachute. The one woman had rangers looking for her friend who had opened into the wall and injured a leg landing in the talus slope at the base of the wall. Apparently, word slipped out that there were more jumpers up there and the rangers were waiting for us when we landed. That was just past midnight on a Friday and we all got to spend the weekend in the park's hoosegow. Went to court on Monday in front of the Honorable Judge Pitts who fined us each an additional $100 more than $250 going rate for being the first ones busted at night. After the trial was over Judge Pitts told us that he was in the meadow with some relatives from back east and had just told them about the crazy skydivers who would sneak in and jump off. He said the relatives wanted to see that, but he told them it was illegal and infrequent. Two minutes later the five of us jumped. I've still got the evidence sticker, case # 904557, they put on my rig in my logbook and I'll never forget the size of the barrel of the pistol the Chief Ranger pointed at me when he arrested me. I was one of many who sent Judge Pitts a card when he retired a few years later. He sent a nice letter in return. Zing Lurks

Q is mostly an online social support group for people who are powerless but want to believe they are insiders. It is a way for them to mitigate their fear. I have no fear of Q or it's believers. I only have pity for fools.

I’m fine with that distinction. If Kanye West was the opposition I’d have to vote for Biden again, for example. I said a while ago that I’d love a president like NZ’s prime minister. 39 and crushing it.