Leaderboard

Really? Biden created more jobs than Trump Biden created more manufacturing jobs than Trump Biden drilled more oil than Trump Biden had better stock market performance than Trump Biden added less debt than Trump The economy does better under Democrats and Democrats generally add less to the debt than Republicans. But sure, you don't go by feels, you go by facts.

A Rabbi is teaching his student the Talmud and explains god created everything in this world to be appreciated, since everything is here to teach us a lesson. The clever student asks “What lesson can we learn from atheists? Why did god create them?” The Rabbi responds “God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all – the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone who is in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that god commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his acts are based on an inner sense of morality. And look at the kindness he can bestow upon others simply because he feels it to be right.” “This means” the Rabbi continued “that when someone reaches out to you for help, you should never say ‘I pray that god will help you.’ instead for the moment, you should become an atheist, imagine that there is no god who can help, and say ‘I will help you.'”

People who state Harris can’t articulate anything seem to have prejudice/misogyny, comprehension problems or the inability to speak English. As for Joe 2.0, he’s done a pretty good job, peacefully handed over the reigns to a younger candidate. I’d say he’s a pretty good act to follow.

Over 31,000 well documented LIES from Trump during his presidency. Tell us how Trump kept his word about having a plan to replace Obamacare. Tell us how Trump kept his word about releasing his tax returns. Tell us how Trump kept his word about Mexico paying for his wall. He said he wouldn’t have time to play golf if elected president. But he made more than 250 visits to his golf clubs — a record for any president. He promised to be “the voice” of American workers. He wasn’t. His administration stripped workers of their rights, repealed overtime protections, rolled back workplace safety rules, and turned a blind eye to employers who steal their workers’ wages. He promised that the average American family would see a $4,000 pay raise because of his tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Trickle down didn't happen. He promised to bring down the price of prescription drugs and said drug companies are “getting away with murder.” He didn't do it. He promised to revive the coal industry and bring back lost coal mining jobs. The coal industry lost jobs. He promised to lock up Hillary Clinton for using a private email server. He didn’t. Instead, Trump used his personal cellphone for official business, and several members of his own administration, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka, used private email in the White House. He promised “six weeks of paid maternity leave to any mother with a newborn child whose employer does not provide the benefit.” He didn’t. He promised to bring an end to Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program. Kim expanded North Korea’s nuclear program. He said he would distance himself from his businesses while in office. He didn't. He promised that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations would spur economic growth and pay for themselves. His tax cuts added $2 trillion to the federal deficit. The list of broken Trump promises goes on and on. And fools continue to believe him

Agreed. And if he ever does anything like that to a human, gun supporters will bow their heads sadly and say "no way anyone could have known. Can't punish everyone for the misdeeds of a few crazy people." Of course, if he ever does anything like that to a human, he'd also have a good shot at the GOP nomination for president.

This dude doesn't have much of a backbone to stand up straight. "I don't want a king" but I support total immunity for Trump Trump: there is a concerted effort to bring him down. He is such a victim Clinton: If you've got money and power, you can get out of stuff. You'll say anything to keep your own biases alive. You don't stand for any facts, you don't understand truths, you just bend in the wind like a mindless drone. No wonder you are so excited by neuralink.

You said that you think Trump can bring you a conservative view of America. I have a couple of questions -- one, why didn't he last time, particularly when he had the House and Senate too? Why wasn't he willing to deal with the Democrats who were willing to deal with him, and giving him a part-of-the-cake bill for border control? And why was he unwilling to have the bipartisan border deal go through this year? He plays hardball politics, at the expense of the American people, and I see that as a problem. The second on is what do you see as a conservative-led America? Do I have the same rights I did before? Do I have the same respect as a human being as I had before, or am I more subject to someone else's norms? I see a country where people can, in fact, be gay and happy about it; a country where access and opportunity are there, rather than controlled so that only the 'right' decisions can be made (even when those decisions don't take modern situations or technology, or even human nature, into account). I see a country where fear isn't a driving force. I see a country where the transition of power for each and every publicly elected job is peaceful, rather than dependent on who has the deepest pockets to sue for victory. To me, that last is one of the single most important things that makes America great; I've lived where that wasn't true, and there was a lot more fear. Fear weakens and destroys people; it's a blunt tool of limited power. Wendy P.

Over 31,000 well documented lies from Trump from Jan 2017 to Jan 2021. A man of his word? You are very easily fooled.

That's what 13 years of mandatory indoctrination did for me. I probably know the bible better than the majority of self-styled Christians. It also made me realize that religion is bunk.

Jim Hooper has died of Cancer. He told me about his condition months ago and asked I not say anything. This a cut and paste of Roland Hilfiker’s post in Facebook Old School Skydiving. Jim Hooper the former owner and operator of the Zephyrhills Parachute Center, passed away on 12 January at the age of 82. Jim was a guy who left his marks on skydiving like hardly anyone else by running what was the world’s leading drop zone between the early 70s and 1983 (including the Turkey Meets), by staging the 1981 World Meet in Relative Work there, and by fostering Canopy Relative Work with the first international competitions around the same time . He retired from what he referred to as dispensing “fun and frolic” liberally to an entire skydiving generation in 1983 and became a war correspondent in Africa and in the Balcan. Author of several books and regular contributor to the Soldier of Fortune magazine, he reported on conflicts big and small from which the other journalists stayed away. Godspeed Hoop! And thanks for everything you did for us. My life would not have been the same without you!

Hi, I just re-lined a Solo 270, and on the test jump, at full glide it constantly turned right unless I pulled about 15" of left toggle. Wing loading was right around 0.8 PSF. Then, as I slowed the canopy toward full brakes, the right-turning tendency slowly went away and disappeared at full brakes. Inspected the canopy and everything looked fine, inside and out. Compared every line to its mirror line, and every pair is within 1/4 inch. Can the canopy fabric be so distorted as to cause such a turn with no visible damage/asymmetry? Any suggestions? Thanks!

I've noticed areas of slinks and the top of risers looking "polished". At first I figured it was due to physical wear from long term contact with vibration from the slider flapping, but later realized it is from the grommets being hot due to line friction, and partial melting of the material. Now protection is provided with large link covers/slider stops similar to what you might see on a tandem rig. I use wide risers, do those using narrow risers not experience this so much because their slider comes farther down the riser before stopping, perhaps spreading out the transfer of the heat? Do my Dacron lines perhaps generate more heat than the newfangled types? It seems the Dacron lines themselves do not suffer.

So apparently Trump is not smart/rich/powerful enough to do this, given that he is a convicted felon. Are you suggesting that Hillary Clinton is smarter, richer and more powerful that Trump? Because that is what I am reading into your post......

Hi winsor, On that, we agree. However, when ranking Trump, I think he comes in about 345,966,482nd. United States Population (2024) - Worldometer (worldometers.info) Jerry Baumchen

C'mon, man! Nobody's perfect...

A trump election promise was to have his DOJ prosecute her prior to his presidency. Yet he did nothing and his base still parrots the outrage.10 times Trump has called for Hillary Clinton and Democrats to be investigated

I was not of voting age during those elections. Certainly wouldn't knowing what I do now. But again, that's your projection assuming that everyone else is willing to vote in such a self interested, amoral way as you. Where would your line be? We already know that you realise he is a sex offender and still want to reward him for it. What's the limit?

She was investigated in and out the wazoo, by two congressional committees that were bound and determined to find something indictable. They were unable to. That should say something. Wendy P.

But you want him inside the nation's house. You want a rapist thief/con-man to represent the values of our nation to the rest of the world.

You know that's a lie. You know that when it comes to articulation Trump is significantly worse. And you know it isn't relevant to your point. The president articulating things doesn't keep Israel safe. Billions of dollars worth of high tech armaments keep Israel safe. So again, how does what you are saying make any sense to you?

A lot of the time people really overuse the word 'projection', but sometimes there is no other word to use. It doesn't even occur to you that a liberal could dislike a famous liberal, because your politics are so divisive, so defined by 'us vs them' that you would never dream of distancing yourself from a famous Republican no matter what they did. Well personally I think Jeff Bezos is a sociopathic parasite and easily as evil as Musk, if a slightly different kind of evil and I couldn't give a flying fuck what political team he claims to support. On that note; People with a functional sense of morality care. He is an unrepentent criminal. He is a rapist. He is a conman. He is a thief, including a thief from veterans charities, and he is a thief and rampant profiteer from his office in Government. An office that belongs not to him, but to the people. And you want to reward him for that, because you want to feel like your team is winning. Everyone who worked closely with Trump in Government and isn't still part of his entourage says a 2nd Trump presidency would threaten the fabric of America's constitutional government. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs called him a fascist and a wannabe dictator. Why do you think that's good?

Also a great strategy if Armageddon is your goal. People wonder why Christians love Trump and fear not the destruction of democracy, but it’s not a mystery. They already bow to a king so the idea of an authoritarian or autocracy or another prince or two in the middle is hardly an impediment to the desired end goal: the end of humanity. We atheists aren’t extremists like you regardless of your attempt at an analogy. We want it all to thrive and continue. You don’t.

In all fairness it’s a global/western problem and it’s easy to pick on America. Suicide is the leading cause of death in men under 45 (in Australia). Toxic masculinity is on the rise and people like Andrew Tate are hailed as hero’s. Men are in crisis and scared. I don’t know if life is genuinely more difficult than it was 30 years ago or not. It used to be uncommon to live at home into your 30’s and 40’s, now it’s almost the norm. I guess you start off blaming immigrants and when you have killed them off/kicked them out the next in line to blame is women. Trump has proven to be good at connecting at an emotional level with younger men. It’s terrifying to see just how big a problem exists. I think we have a similar problem brewing here, the number one terror threat that we are dealing with is radicalised 14 to 25 year old males.

Well, to be fair he was half white, so were were dipping a toe into electing a black president.

Hi Nigel, Re: It’s a sad indictment of American men/society that they prefer a rapist and criminal over a woman. One of the truest statements ever posted on this site. Thank You, Jerry Baumchen PS) I still cannot understand what they [ American men/society ] are afraid of.

I see the anger and frustration that you and many of my friends have about the situation - It’s hard to imagine the level of frustration that you guys must have. Trump is quite literally the laughing stock of the world and to be honest the GOP is so spineless and lack integrity that it is disgusting.

You clearly have no understanding of what a visionary is nor the meaning of Freedom of Speech. Not surprising.

HD-grommets are already comparable in weight to buckles. We have long switched to buckles for all uses, removable and non-removable, including tandems. And we do not see any use for grommets, except for reserves.

I made that suggestion based primarily on avoiding collisions under canopy. If you put the heaviest tandem out first, they will naturally descend fastest and will land first. And if you put the lightest tandem out last, they will naturally descend slower and naturally land last. The worst case scenario is the lightest tandem spiralling in the landing pattern (below 1,000 feet) in his egotistical rush to land first.

A more direct racist smear. Jimmy Kimmel comented on it: I can buy Trump grabbing two pussies at once... I just can’t imagine him running.

It is highly unlikely that the flight crew could see the "lights" (meaning the actual streetlights and such) of Portland. There were three cloud layers under the airliner, and they essentially constituted an almost complete undercast. The crew probably meant that they could see the "glow" of the Portland lights through those three cloud layers. The airliner was 10,000 feet higher than Portland and the "glow" would be visible from a considerable distance. I speak from personal experience on this point.

Its interesting to me that in all of the crew conversations with DBC, nobody bothered to ask: what are you going to do after you jump? Did he plan to play it by ear or did he have a plan? People cant even agree on what his plan was! Carr says he intended to bail as soon as airborne at or near Seattle. I think he intended to send the plane as far away from WA/Oregon as possible. If he always intended to jump as close to Mexico as possible, then why didn;t he? Since DBC was a hapless moron maybe he got confused and didnt have any idea where he was or what time or day it was! ? A basic problem in the Cooper case is a correct personality profile for the man. Including his intelligence. Including if he had any plan at all since this was a spur-of-the-moment hijacking with no plan at all, as some say. Money at Tena Bar is an enigma because Cooper was a moron and an enigma! Consider ourselves lucky that money wasnt found on a river beach in Florida! Or on a bench in New York City. Anything is possible in the Cooper case because no two people can agree on anything.

Books by Jim Hooper.

Nobody want's to jump kids...it's horrible! But because it is legal here in nz and mexico, you get them every now and then. It is definitely not an attraction as TI and it certainly doesn't make the day easier. I don't remember what he pay was in mexico 6/7 years ago but probably somewhere around 20 ish usd plus handy cam.

Jim and Jeff also Jim and Phil Smith.

Got the replacement. The fabric is smooth and non-sticky on BOTH sides. What a concept!

....... whatever way you closing the gargoyle or any 2-pin rig will work. I doing so, that the bridle going from the middle out to the top loop and than to bottom loop. You can also close it ( for low altitude) so that you go from the middle to bottom and than to top loop. All working very well. regards Robert Pecnik robert@phoenix-fly.com www.phoenix-fly.com

I also have heard nothing but good things about the Gargoyle. I was pretty close to ordering one myself but I went with Asylum.