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I get tired of their chanting the latest talking head's talking points. One of my main reasons for being on here is the balance. You and I have tussled a couple of times, but it's been mostly an intellectual/educational process. I "believe" you have been more than lenient to some of our current right-wing trolls and have booted many a left-wing troll for less. The current one's aren't even trying to provide some insight. It's just, "Let me regurgitate what Tuckerson, Hannity, et.al., said today. Fuck it. Boot 'em. They add nothing to the discussion.

I more or less agree. Using genetic anomalies over and over again to justify treating gender fluid people as normal is just plain wrong. We need to stop doing this and recognize that gender fluidity is a normal thing in human behavior. No justification needed. Just let people be what they are.

Given that he’s made the world vastly safer by repairing our NATO alliance and is leading the way to end the world trend towards autocracy by providing massive US support to degrade Russia in Ukrain and so much more I honestly don’t give a rats ass if he busts out speaking in tongue’s on occasion and neither should you.

You will always get something out of college if it includes material you're interested in, and not just "getting ready for work." Always. Enjoy college, then enjoy your life! And hopefully you'll be back -- and look me up at Jumptown Wendy P.

OK OK already. I'll be the Speaker.

It just seems overly complicated to do it that way. I figure if I'm gonna spout bullshit It's better to save a step and just make it up myself.

And because it's a rules thing and not a Constitutional thing, it can be eliminated just as easily as it was created.

update - got into aero & astro. A hard journey awaits but I'm excited to keep moving forward. Thank you all for your encouragement & support and for pointing me in the right direction. I believe I've made right decisions. I have a plan - first step is to learn. Second step is to start thinking about getting internships (I've already started doing this). Better to start early. Thanks again. Happy new year!

Just got off the phone with McNally after 2 and a half hours. Guy is a hoot. I asked him a bunch of "Coopery" things. Some notable comments. - His alias, Robert Wilson, was completely made up out of the blue. He has no idea why he chose it. Meant nothing. - Despite having 1500 hours in an P-2 Neptune with the Navy, he was never shown how to put on a chute. - He had a briefcase with him that contained gloves, a pistol (that wasn't used during the hijacking), his wig, sunglasses, and rope. - He was so scared that he scooted down the stairs on his butt. - He attached the money bag to his left leg with a leather belt that went through loops on the leather money bag. He later found out that the belt wasn't stitched, which is why it snapped. - He doesn't know why he was described by passengers as swarthy or Hispanic (one article I came across said "Mexican or Spanish" He wasn't wearing makeup. - Said the money bag was totally intact when it was found despite falling several thousand feet, which surprised him. - Said he wearing a set of clothes under the clothes he wore during the hijacking. Tossed those out the plane. They were found. - I asked if his briefcase was ever found and he said it wasn't. - And my favorite: he took a shit in his chute, folded it together and then stepped on it to rub it all in so the FBI or law enforcement would be pissed when they found it. Says he has never seen it mentioned anywhere.

Seems to me a deal that gives 6 D votes and thus the speakership to McCarthy in exchange for no committee assignments for Greene, Boebert, Biggs, Gaetz, and Gomert, et al. would be not only a fair swap but a joyous belly laugh.

You sure care a lot about minors having gender reassignment surgery, THAT happens so rarely that it's a 'statistical zero'. Bill beat me to it: There are far, far, faaaaaaaar too many people who insist on making it their business. Usually dressed up in 'protecting the children' bullshit. Helpful hint: More members of the US Congress (both Senators & Representatives) have been caught pulling 'bathroom shenanigans' than trans people. Maybe, if the states wanted to really protect the children, they'd ban those people from bathrooms instead of insisting trans men & women use the 'wrong' one.

Why is gender so important? It has to do with reproduction, but not with a whole lot else that's not social. And social things can change with time. Wendy P. Well, yes they have to deal with it, but in the context of a society that doesn't recognize them, or wants to force them into predetermined boxes that don't fit. We've gone past "your father was a baker so you're going to be a baker" and "you're a woman so you're going to be a mommy or a nurse," why not go a little further into functionalism -- "what can you actually do?" I've been in plenty of restaurants with a single restroom for a man, and a single restroom for a woman. Why on earth shouldn't they both be "whatever, just wash your hands" restrooms? Wendy P.

Also Walla Walla, and all of the Willamette Valley AVA, please. No worries in France, I think they just knock you off your scooter and pummel you then and there.

Ditto, but I want to be Chair of the Wine Committee.

No. I disagree with you a lot but you aren't a troll.

I'm good with that.

Hi Keith, Since you do not have to be a member of the House to be Speaker, go for it. You will be better than any names that I have seen being suggested. 'BIGUN, HE'S THE ONE' I like the ring of that. Jerry Baumchen

Are you joking? Politics is a blood sport. Also known as "hardball". It's all about the power baby. Ask Mitch.

David - Great to hear the good news! Keep it up. Remember this: Happy New Year! Blue skies TampaPete

Well done, lad. Barring any catastrophic Bar reductions the air will be there after you've graduated. Hopefully most of us will, too.

What about a graduated licensing program for new gun owners? Start with a basic firearms safety course (see Canadian Firearms Possession and Acquisition License). Limit them to .22 rim-fire for the first year. After a year, add in a review of the basics (to test how much they remember) then add in a basic accuracy requirement. That accuracy demonstration would require going to a registered gun range and hitting a standard target with 10 rounds fired from 10 meters/yards away. The target would need to be signed by the range officer and submitted with the application to upgrade the license. It would take 2 or 3 years to qualify for a concealed carry permit. Concealed carry permits should require some formal training in situational awareness, risk management, adrenaline management, de-escalation, road-rage, etc. Pre-trained military or police officers might get some slack on timing (for example, the way that the FAA fast-tracks military riggers wanting to earn civilian parachute rigger ratings), but they would still need to demonstrate safety and accuracy.

A few months before I got out of the tandem game (after 10 years and probably 5000+ tandems): I exit on a handcam jump that had outside video as well, and right out the door I realize I didn't buckle my full face helmet. So I'm flying the entire jump with my right hand on my head, filming with my left, and cursing the camera flyer who decided (not for the first time) to film everything while carving around us on his head. Apart from that helmet annoyance and the freeflying camera guy, we get to 6000' uneventfully, whereas I reach back with my left hand (wasn't going to sacrifice my helmet for the opening shot), pull, and nothing happens. I switch hands, hold down my helmet with my left, and pull the right handle. Nothing. Now we're getting to 5000', and everything I know about release blockages and drogues in tow on Sigmas flashes through my head. I give the left handle another go, then say a quick prayer and fire the reserve past the trailing drogue. It clears, and we have a brisk, but totally manageable deployment, and I fly us down, hoping the people on the ground aren't too freaked out by the drogue dragging behind us, trying to get some good canopy HC footage to make up for what would definitely be suboptimal freefall. We land, and I look back to locate my drogue. And it's not there. And that's when I realize it's still in the BOC, where it's been the entire time because I was too busy holding down my helmet and filming the jump, and the camera guy was just trying to keep up with us, and we went straight to reserve from drogueless terminal. And I was generally pretty proud of myself for not being one of those TIs who need the drogue to get them stable, but the dumbfuckery I managed to cram into this jump still makes me a bit sick to my stomach.

Just a quick update - college is going well. Engineering is hard but I'm maintaining good grades in all my classes. I'm going to shoot for Aerospace when I choose my major at the end of this year (If I can't get in, I will try Mechanical, and I can still get into aerospace industry with a ME degree) Sometimes I really miss California's weather but can't complain haha. Looking back I believe that I made the right choice, and thanks to everyone who pushed me. I think right now I'm learning something meaningful, and will do something meaningful in the future. About skydiving... well, I still think about it and my past experiences from time to time, but not as much as before. After my accident I always had that urge of 'immediately' getting back to it but now that has decreased a lot. I will jump again when I'm fully ready after a few years. Blue Skies and stay safe out there