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No, both sides are not the same. Thinking it is is not only intellectually lazy and dishonest, but just plain partisan hackery.

Normiss can speak for himself and may well correct me, but I'm assuming he was referring to the twice-impeached, 4x-indicted con-man. Not the current President and recipient of unsubstantiated accusations.

No, he meant homophily. It's ok to admit you don't know what that means. We should all be comfortable saying what we don't know. After all, without first acknowledging that, we'll never learn anything new. See, as an example, I'm perfectly happy saying I have no idea what any of that means.

Reminder, you keep telling us not to believe what the government says. Putin is the Russian government. See if you can finish that thought.

No great surprise, you’ve never really given the impression that you’re actually paying attention.

That would easily be done if the Russian army just packed up and left Ukraine.

Why do you rely on videos for information? They’re just about the worst thing. Wendy P.

Dude you're going on a year now of posting BS videos that 'irrefutably demonstrate that Ukraine is just about to lose the war'. Maybe you should look for new video sources....Or better yet, put some thought into answering Jakee's question above. With all your resources on the issue, it shouldn't be hard no? Or you'll just spew some BS and post another video tomorrow...My money's on door #2, you're so predictable.

In 2010, 4 years before Russia went into the Donbas, Ukraine's President was Viktor Yanukovych - a Russian puppet who has lived in Russia ever since being kicked out of office. I doubt he was cracking down on pro-Russian groups. But again, why do you believe that Ukraine killed 14,000 civilians in the Donbas between 2014 and 2022? Where does that belief come from? And why don't you care about Russia's constant bombardment of purely civilian targets? Why do you believe what Putin says when you can see what he's doing?

Puting denounces Ukraine for being "Nazi", then proceeds replicate everything the Nazi's did in WWII.

Interesting that Russia uses the term "terrorist" when Ukraine defends itself against a terrorist war from Russia.

Likely one of the few places left in Russia that might be safe as the attacking drone was a "copter-type UAV". So the attack was launched close to the base. Perhaps some nuclear powered subs should be next up.

Dammit, I just saw that madness because you quoted it.

And just as bad, we have many Americans who are incapable of recognizing a deranged moron, even when he is standing at a podium, babbling like an idiot. I clashed with a couple narcissist/psychopath conmen in the past, but both were probably above average in intelligence, which helped them in their scams. I never imagined a complete moron could be successful at it.

Most people can see how Russia slipped into that form of government under Putin. It takes effort to keep those forces at bay so they don't have to shed the blood of patriots like Ukraine is doing today. The power of misinformation is evident in the likes of Slim and how intrinsic such values are in him, in MAGA republicans.

It's disturbing and painful to realize we have that many Americans who are willing to forcibly place an authoritarian criminal traitor in the White House.

Threatening nuclear war if we do not allow Ukraine to be subjugated by Russia is page one of Putin’s playbook - so as I said, it’s conquest that you’re after, not peace. You want Putin’s barbaric war of aggression to be successful and for Russia to keep the land it has seized. But it’s a play that Putin has made far too many times before. He’s set red line after red line in this conflict over what we should not give Ukraine or else… and nothing has happened. And nothing will happen. Putin is out to do what’s best for Putin, and dying in a nuclear holocaust isn’t good for him.

No. He meant homophily. The funny part is that the first time he used it, my reaction was somewhat similar to yours. Fortunately, Bill seems to be a thoughtful and considerate person, so when he used a word not a whole lot of people are familiar with, he also included the definition. 1 - Stop linking stupid, biased videos. Nobody watches them. 2 - Stop typing out long, unhinged, incomprehensible rants that make me wonder just how many fatties you smoked before logging on.

I thought they were called "your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me" At least until republicans turned their attentions to renaming them. This is what the hatred is directed to: Yes they should be hated because they are Brown skinned. Because they are poor, homeless, oppressed, seeking freedom and a better life. Judged to be illegals because they are gang members. Look at the one in the yellow outfit. Clearly a MS-13 member. The guy hiding behind the sign, probably a rapist.

Agree, just as he doesn't believe in the US constitution, freedom or democracy. Hell, he doesn't believe in science, acknowledging mistakes, paying for mistakes, the rule of law, equality under the law, international law, etc. etc.

The calls for Trump to be disqualified from running for president under the 14th amendment are growing. And from some well known conservative legal scholars, too. https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/19/politics/donald-trump-fourteenth-amendment-2024-race/index.html

He IS right wing propaganda.

The closest I get to 'diversity' is "Equal rights, equal responsibilities - no more and no less." James Webb's discussion of women in combat applies nicely. He was fine with it until they began to lower the physical training standards so women had a better shot. He pointed out that training by touch football rules is all well and good until you go up against the Green Bay Packers. If I take a round through the pelvis, a woman who can throw me over her shoulder and get me out of harm's way has my vote, and a guy who can't get me out of the line of fire is undeserving of a participation medal. If a woman can shoot the eyebrows off a fruit fly at 800 meters and is cool with life in the field, I'm happy to have her in my squad. From a practical standpoint, I'd prefer she have an IUD or birth control implants so her fire team doesn't have to deal with pregnancy issues. Statistically speaking, sailors and soldiers who serve together tend to wind up with pregnancies if there is no intervention. For some reason telling them not to have sex doesn't work 100%. I still find it offensive that the women that stepped up to the plate and did an outstanding job of producing war materiel ('Rosie the Riveter' et al.) were sent packing after the war so that men could take their place. This flies in the face of my concept of equality. Despite the denial now at work, biological realities are realities, not abstract constructs. I thought PMS was make believe until I witnessed it up close and personal. It's not good or bad per se, it's just a factor to be considered in some cases, and some women need a sick day at least once a month as a result. Female impersonators are spared these particulars. I have exactly the same right to try out to play in the NBA as did, say, Michael Jordan. Lucky for the NBA, they are allowed to discriminate against people who are singularly unsuited to playing basketball such as me. There is a big difference between legitimate discrimination and illegal discrimination. I am also fine with not qualifying for NAMBLA, since the North American Marlon Brando Look Alikes should be limited to people with a passing resemblance to Marlon Brando. BSBD, Winsor

Will someone please explain to me the obsession with down-sizing? Back when I was working full-time as a skydiving instructor (350 jumps per year), I weighed about 190 pounds and jumped 135 and 150 and 400 square foot canopies. After I quit working full-time in the skydiving industry, I put on bit of weight (up to 230 pounds) and got un-current during COVID, so up-sized my main canopy to a Pilot 169. 169 is a challenge to land softly at my current weight of 190 pounds. Oh! And I am 66 years old now. As it is now, I am in no rush to reach the ground and just enjoy hanging under canopy, doing gentle turns and enjoying the scenery.

Yet another fantasy from the mind of BillV. First is was getting the Woolworth boycott 100% backwards, then it was the crazy notion that California gets most of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources and now it is thoroughly debunked “don’t say gay” narrative that the left is so in love with. The fact of the matter is the left is in love with failure. A boycott succeeded, and its supporters are sheep, a cancel campaign fails and its and it is because society is not yet sophisticated enough. It is a good thing that lefties like failure because they are so good at it.

Yez, I got more lives than 2-cats. Her's an old one: It won a "Pull-it Sir!" when Gene Hunnel printed it in DZ-USA in ~62 Thought of some 'near-death' stuff you might dig. Sooo, here's something I wrote in the '60's, I think.... Do a GOOGLE on "Unconscious and falling " for full text. http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~esj/uwf/uwf8.htm "Unconscious and Falling! In Texas on December 22, 1966, 16 expert parachutists met at a small pasture five miles from the Gulf of Mexico between Galveston and Houston. After two weeks of planning, they were ready to attempt free fall jumps from the edge of space. At 12:15 that afternoon the first five loaded their jump aircraft: a 206 Super Cessna Skywagon. It roared down the narrow grass runway and climbed upward into the 21 below zero temperature at 25,000 feet, into air so thin it robs a man of useful consciousness in minutes by oxygen starvation, or hypoxia as the doctors call it. They were climbing into trouble. We were manifested for the second lift to 25,000 feet. So, as the plane took off, we watched with more than casual interest. Tim, an ex-jet fighter pilot who had lost his left eye flying for the Marines, turned to me with a grin and a shrug, "Well, they made it off the ground, but I'll lay you odds that one of those clowns screws up before they even leave the airplane." Some 37 minutes later, when the Cessna reached jump altitude, the thin air and cold had done their deadly work. Only two of the five skydivers aboard were able to jump. One of the others had been so affected by the cold, or his nerves, that he froze in the door and did not jump; another had accidentally unhooked his oxygen line so that when it came time to jump he was only able to turn blue and babble. During the ascent he had been sucking on an oxygen line that wasn't connected to the oxygen tank and as a result, the necessary state of mental alertness was replaced by confusion and euphoria. The third jumper had suffered the consequences of gas expansion which occurs at high altitudes. When he was carried from the aircraft on the ground, I solicitously removed his lined jump suit and carefully scraped the frozen vomit from it, Warmer than mine, I wanted to use it for my upcoming jump. Little did I realize that before the day ended, I, too, would be lying unconscious at 25,000 feet far out over the chilly waters of the Gulf of Mexico in a plane piloted by a man whose oxygen-starved brain convinced him that north was best reached by flying south......" Yada Yada yaadaa, no-shit, we was there Crazy Pat Works, 2-cats Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

Rig Before Rating . . . Working for Don Muma down at Otay Lakes in Southern California a hundred years ago it’s New Years Eve and we cap the days jumps by pulling Jim Perry’s Helio Stallion up on the grass and blasting the stereo we’d just installed. Don came running out and yelled at us and rightly so as he’s sowed a fine grass in an era when grass meant everything in the desert. So the next morning we quit and flew away. “I hear Deborah Blackman is re-opening Elsinore.” “Let’s go there.” The Stallion is a brute of a single engine turbo-prop tail dragger controllable down to thirty knots and used by the CIA during Vietnam to delivery whatever into small jungle clearings. We do a short field landing at Gillespie Field for some Jet A and the controller is talking when he hears Led Zeppelin blasting on the stereo behind us and says, “Cool.” We landed on the dirt in Lake Elsinore around sunset and Debbie came running out to greet us and she said, “Okay,” looking at Jim, “You are my chief pilot, and you,” now looking at me, she says, “You are my chief instructor.” We follow her into the fading light and I’ll never forget Jim looking my way and saying, “Timing is everything.” Fast forward two years and Tandem rigs are appearing on the market for the first time. Debbie buys one of the first Strong tandems. The first day we had it, after Debbie put it all together, as it came component wise, Mark Hewitt and another fellow who’s name I can’t remember took the rig up for it’s first jump. After getting out of the Beech D-18 at 12.5 neither one could get the drogue out and going through 1500 feet at tandem terminal Mark, who’s up front is reaching up over his left shoulder and clawing for the reserve ripcord handle he says later, “ I’m looking at right where we’re going to crater.” Finally up-top gets the drogue out. The only problem now is he’d already pulled the drogue release and the brunt of a tandem terminal opening almost breaks Mark’s neck and as he lies limp in the harness he hears, “Shit, we gotta cutaway.” After landing safely under the reserve we all figured the rule in tandem jumping is always use the main, even if you blow it up, as so you don’t use the reserve going too fast , and blow that up too. Debbie had paying customers lined up already for the next day and she took the broken main home and Betsy Rossed it back together. The next morning I woke to her asking me to go up and jump it and make sure it is alright. A for real continuity check. “ Sure, no problem, it’s just another rig.” Ernie Villanova and a bunch of Elsinore regulars are doing a early morning demo as I sit back on the floor of the Beech and contemplate just what the heck all these handles do. A few Rw loads get out and I walk toward the door. “Get the drogue out,” is all I’m thinking because that’s what started those other guys problems. Stepping out the door, I grin at Ernie, reach back and throw out the drogue. Like I was doing a hop and pop. All of a sudden I felt myself stable but not arching. Wow, I thought, that drogue is so big you don’t have to arch, I was just hanging. It’s then I notice the horizon is right above my toes and I look over my should and there’s the Beech right behind me. I’d thrown the drogue over the tail, and I’ll never forget when my brain told my body I was in tow. Nothing bad was happening at the moment and I remember thinking don’t make the next mistake that will kill you.” I looked down on the myriad of handles and deduced none did what I needed to do. I looked again at my feet and the horizon is sinking as I wrapped the elevator of the Beech and she’s nosing over, Bobby said later, “It pulled the yoke full forward and I couldn’t pull it back, at first I thought you Knuckleheads had figured a new way to mess with me.” Meanwhile self preservation is clicking in and I figure, okay, we’re still high, but if it starts going hey wire I’ll cutaway first and then pull the drogue release. It would mean leaving Bobby with the mess, or, if the main inflated the end of him when it pulled the tail from the aircraft. All of a sudden I came off. I arched and flipped over and looked at the altimeter and saw all that nonsense that started at 12.5 took until 8000 feet to sort it self out. I looked up over my shoulder and see 15 feet of bridle and no drogue. I thought I’d better start now. I reached and pull the student ripcord and it comes a ways and stops. I pull until I’m afraid I’ll break something and throw it away. I grab the tandem master’s ripcord and it too comes out a ways and then jams. I’d pulled both cables through the grommet on the drogue Three Ring release when I was in tow. I looked at the altimeter and decided that no matter what was happening at 4000 feet I was going to pull the reserve handle. That way I’d have some time to hack on things with my hook knife if it all went wrong. I went back to pulling on the drogue release. At about six thousand feet I finally forcibly managed to clear one of the cables. I could feel the side flaps of the main container hitting me and tried to push the huge bagged main away from me. However, it went without a pilot chute or drogue in slow motion as I watched one and then another stow come off the bag until I looked again and I’m coming up to the point where I’m thinking about looking for the reserve handle when bam I get a opening on the main. After landing Bobby and stare at the dents I put in the horizontal stabilizer of the Beech and all agree we got away with one. Debbie deducted $80 from my next paycheck to cover the cost of the drogue I destroyed. Watch it . . . . Nick D-8904