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Hunter Biden is a long time drug addict. He’s probably done more crime that can be uncovered. Crime that, if he were a normal white collar white guy, would never be uncovered or would be treated as a slap on the wrist at best. But hey, let us know how happy you’d be if the Sheriff in your town started following you around and delving into every aspect of your life for just because he didn’t like you. Shouldn’t be any problem, right? If you’re innocent you’ve got nothing to hide.

The Japanese that we put in prison camps were a miniscule percentage of our population. Doesn't make that OK. Gay people are a small part of the population. Still, laws that made being gay illegal were wrong. Black people were a small (not miniscule) part of our population in 1860. Didn't make slavery OK. Didn't make separate water fountains OK. Didn't make white-only schools OK. Although a LOT of bigots used that exact argument - "they have rights! Just different rights. There aren't that many of them anyway." If your argument is "as long as most people have rights that's fine" then you do not support rights - you support privilege.

Turns out dragging knuckles and understanding humour are mutually exclusive.

Finally a concise definition of what 'woke' is - pronouns on social media. Seems like such a petty thing to get so worked up about, but whatever floats your boat.

Well sure, Brent really doesn’t want to talk about Syria. What’s he going to say about the fact that Trump hand picked an Assad supporter for Intelligence Director? What’s he going to say about the fact that Assad was toppled because Putin was busy having his military destroyed in Ukraine - a war that Trump is determined to let him win as soon as he can? Changing the subject is really the only option for a good little MAGA follower right now.

Richravizza, I heard. There are some planned changes, disabling spell check for example, but otherwise no worries.

Because Republicans stand for nothing but being vindictive. The only thing you enjoy is hurting people.

It was really interesting to see the recent spate of news about the opposition making gains in Syria last week. Amazing to hear the news about Assad. It's easy to celebrate these milestones (and we should), but we should still be very concerned about what's next. ISIS could decide to make a power play, the forces in power could totally fail to deliver public services, or someone else could simply step up with his own brand of authoritarianism as just a different kind of "bad" for Syria. I'm not sure we should be a part of the re-building of institutions and democracy, considering our penchant for "getting ahead of our skis" when we start out trying to do the right thing. But I certainly think we should support our allies stepping in to assist in the process. The earlier a new government can get off the ground, the better the whole region will be.

History shows us it's normal and natural.

it would be appropriate if one or more threads devolved in to DB cooper threads for the rest of the life of this site. DB Cooper forever.

Hi Bill, They are normally bullies. Bullies, who deep down inside are true cowards. Like a certain mango-haired person who is in the news a lot these days. Jerry Baumchen

Get with it man. Trump has vowed retribution and you well know it. Why give him the chance, especially with his son? I say Biden should extensively pardon anyone Trump might go after just to take the wind from his sails and maybe he'll get on with governance instead.

Nope. There's simply a new enemy - the pet eating, violent, drug-carrying, raping illegal immigrants. There is a certain sort of person who simply responds well to having an enemy they can denigrate; it makes them feel better about themselves. "People say I'm dumb, but did you hear about the polack who . . ." "Sure I've had my problems, but I'm not a criminal freeloader illegal!"

The important thing here is, which bathroom do they use? Because we gotta ban that shit. Because kids! Those things we tolerate the mass murder of, but we truly value their bathroom experiences.

And just like that America has a brand new folk hero. A Pretty Boy Floyd for the new century. Young good looking white man. Enough pictures released that many people must know his name but for some reason no one has come forward yet. Songwriters are strumming chords and roughing in lyrics waiting to find out the name. Hollywood has several scriptwriters working. The main question now is will he be taken dead or alive.

He was trying to say, "whoosh".

Like EV subsidies and tax breaks? Don't think President Musk is going to allow that.

Well, there is certainly some incentive for him to skip over posts that answer his question, if his goal is to be outraged that no one answered his question.

While I can understand what motivated the shooter, I am appalled by the notion of political violence. ... perhaps because I met Alfred Pinisch many times before he died in an bumbled FLQ raid during August of 1964. As many of you have read, I had my troubles amplified by a two-faced medical insurance company: Workmans' Compensation Board of British Columbia.

I see them on email signatures, website profiles, job sites and resume's, doctor's office forms, hospital forms, legal documents....they're still living. I expect they will survive the hatred of MAGATs.

Peeing my name in the snow isn’t normal and natural to me. Wendy P.

I also think about Tonto, whenever I come on dz.com Wendy P.

Score one for Biden.

Because the incoming United States President is a vindictive piece of shit who is obviously weaponizing the justice department to go after his perceived enemies. Next time take the different colored pill.

A: Because Trump has promised to go after him with every tool in his arsenal, legal and extralegal. And good parents protect their children from violent criminals.

The Smith Act, same as McCarthy. Google it. I "pardoned" you - revoked your ban for Christmas. But if that offends you, just let me know and I'll reinstate you. OTOH this puts you in the same boat as Hunter - he never asked for one either. Like Trump, he was a democrat. Like Trump, he became a republican in order to attack liberals. You're a great example of why Trump loves the poorly educated - easy to deceive.

Joe McCarthy (of McCarthyism) was a Republican. Eugene McCarthy was a Democrat. Two rather different people Wendy P.

And yet Trump has vowed to prosecute them for just that. Of course, that's not what it will be called. It will be called anti-American activities or some similar rationalization. McCarthy was especially good at this. Republicans would not know this, of course, not being students of . . . anything, really. Meanwhile, tell us why you deserved a "pardon."

He’s just pissed that he has to suffer consequences for free speech. If, when I was younger, I’d said “hey baby” to some random guy and was attacked, plenty of people would think I had it coming. That’s consequences. If my brothers then beat him up, that’s consequences. If the woman actually has power to do something — well that’s not fair! Wendy P.

Because a criminal has vowed to take revenge on them.

*nigh

Medicare and the VA system are both examples of single-payer health coverage. They're both funded by the federal government. Single Payer and Universal Healthcare can be somewhat conflated. The single payer means there's just a single entity paying for medical care for some. Universal Healthcare - means that ALL Americans have coverage, whether through public or private systems, or both. So, before you get too snarky, the goal is NOT single payer for some, but universal care for all. I'm thinking you don't get Universal Healthcare. Or. is that not your goal.

hi winsor, Re: The only person DB Cooper killed was himself. Not one shred of proof of this. I do not believe the FBI hype that he is dead. I think that I am the only person here who was 'interviewed' by the FBI back then. They had not a clue then; and, they have not one today. Jerry Baumchen

The only person DB Cooper killed was himself. Exiting at night in lousy conditions, he was likely alive when he went into the Columbia River, but not for long. This "hero" is a murderer. He will be caught soon, since his brilliant plan wasn't. The fact that he got the gun to go bang is impressive, given that he hadn't practiced. I'd rather he had a Squeaky Fromme moment where he'd neglected to chamber a round. Any idiot can go out and kill people, and all too often idiots do. As far as striking a blow for the cause du jour goes, the law of unintended consequences tends to prevail. Anyone who considers this guy to be heroic should re-evaluate their values. BSBD, Winsor

Trump is a bully by nature, he cowers in the face of strength and exploits weakness. Putin is now weak. If someone could let him know that we could confiscate Russian billions held in western nations and have Russia actually fund the war against them while the US defense industry benefits and taxpayers are off the hook, I think he would go for it

I hope you are joking. I think the new powers that be will soon be uninviting their Russian guests. No need for intervention.

The problem is all the suppression and hatred being thrown at this small group. If they are so small and unimportant why are so many laws being aimed against them?

Perfect. Now, while the getting is good, let's drop the 82nd Airborne onto Damascus International Airport and the 101st onto Al-Nasiriyah Military Airbase to help keep security in these trying times and to protect our 900 troops there from another Afghanistan debacle. Then sit back and watch how the Russians come to grips with the United States controlling the nation with their only warm water port accessing the Mediterranean: Tartus.

And if it shines a bright light on insurance industry cockroaches , their lobbyists, and the bastard republicans in Congress who keep America saddled with shit insurance then good. Medicare for all, it works.

The guy who thinks they are "suckers" and "losers?" They are getting exactly what they voted for.

Hi Bill, Re: Once Trump's tariffs go into force, and inflation starts ticking up - who will conservatives blame? It was the summer of '83. The Reagan Recession was in full swing. The local tv news station did a story on all of the people, here in Oregon, who were out of work & complaining about. The local tv news commentator, Floyd McCay [ a brilliant guy BTW ], came on, and said, 'Why are they complaining? This is exactly what Reagan said he would do.' Let's see how things look in the summer of 2027. Then) who will conservatives blame? Jerry Baumchen

Thanks for facilitating some awesome friendships and experiences, HH. Still waiting for that giraffe bbq though.

Definitely cult like. Also the US is now well and truly established as a corrupt nation. It’s going to be interesting to see the EU response over time as they generally have quite high standards on dealing with corruption.

Unfortunately, winsor won’t be able to appreciate that description, as he doesn’t see color

My interpretation of so many skydiving competition disciplines is that young jumpers look at the 10,000 jumps required to join Arizona Airspeed, and they decide that it is simpler to invent a new sky sport. Early (1920s) precision landing competitors were happy if they landed in the correct field. Then they added precisely defined targets which eventually evolved into the modern electronic "discs." Competitors responded by getting more and more precise. Now if you miss the "disc" on your first jump, you just go home in disgrace. Then came "style": solo maneuvers ... then "relative work" (group formation) in freefall on their bellies .... then sit-flying .......... Then sky-surfing .... then solo free-fly (see Dale ...) ... once square parachutes were perfected, they invented canopy relative work (canopy formations) ........... speed stacks ........... canopy rotations ............ para-batics .............. blade-running ............ flat-land slalom under canopy .......... pond-swooping ........... distance under canopy ............... The list is never-ending. Next thing you know the FAI has written rules for competition and a few years later you need 8,000 jumps to compete seriously at the world meet, so youngsters find it easier to invent another new sky sport. Not every young skydiver is a fiercely competitive team member. Some of them just want to play grab-ass with their friends on the weekend.

I had to look at my profile just to be sure but I was right, I signed up in 2001. I think I had 200 skydives and at the time I was searching for anything skydiving related I could get my hands on. Although I didn't/don't post much it was always comforting to come here and pick back up with what was or wasn't happening. This is an end to an era. Thanks to Sangiro for making the last 23 years comfortable. Change is inevitable. Peace and love. Doug

2002 January I joined Love this place will miss it bid time

Wow thanks Seth. When trying to post something concise about a complex subject, that really concentrates the mind and forces one to carefully weigh all the factors. Whether or not someone else finds it useful, it does help one's own understanding. 22 years here for me. Highlights for me have been all the technical discussions, and some about old time skydiving & gear. And all in a forum with a better interface for finding things, avoiding endless scrolling, compared to facebook or even reddit. (Even if dz also had its formatting issues, losing the old photos, etc.) Looking at posts from way back, one comes across so many names one has almost forgotten about, regular & useful posters from some particular era - I don't think I can single out just a few individuals. Too bad about all the English language forums disappearing. The Australian one disappeared, the UK one disappeared, soon this one. Funniest moment: Newbie sees someone write about reaching for grips in RW. Newbie takes it out of contest and slams the guy, telling him you should know one should NEVER reach for grips. ....The guy he criticized was a >10,000 jump Airspeed RW team member.

I just passed 19 years as a member of this site. Mostly just lurking; I used to be perversely proud I had more jumps than posts, but that is no longer true. I want to thank @wolfriverjoe and @pchapman and @davelepka and @diverdriver (latter two long gone I assume) for being such good resources, level headed, thorough, and mostly dispassionate in their advice and analysis. (dave could get wound up, but still for many years was a great source of information). I learned so much here.

Jim was my first sky diving instructor in May of 1976 at Zephyrhills Florida. We were all jumping from an old DC-3. We sort of rubbed each other the wrong way. I had completed my military obligations and was feeling pretty pretty tough. Jim sort of laughed at my bravado. In those days new jumpers progressed on a static line. first 2 jumps and you demonstrated that you could exit the door and hit a stable arch. Then 2 jumps where you exited stable and did a dummy rip cord pull to show that you were thinking in the air. I had been using student equipment an old army T-10 with a big bulky front reserve and had about about 7 static lines and was waiting for Jim to sign some paper that would allow me to do my first free fall. I was attending University of South Florida at the time it was Friday afternoon and I was out of class for the weekend. All the experienced jumpers were already there and I could see them flying down. Jim met me in the parking lot as I drove up with my rusty old Volkswagen van. He said follow me. I walked behind him into the chute packing room. He handed me a student rig with a ripcord. I put the rig on with a lump in my throat, Jim pulled the straps so hard that it actually hurt my nuts. I put you on the manifest he stated with a grin that only increased my fear. The load roar of the DC-3's engines warming up only increased my anxiety. Jim could see that I was scared and said Ok time to see what your made of tough guy. We boarded the roaring monster and took off the runway, static jumps with a barometric auto opener on the reserve were scary enough but now if I screwed up I realized I could die. We went around and around until we got to 2000 feet and a jump master named Ed Avery sent 6 new students out on the static lines. Jim pulled the static lines in and rolled his finger in the air to go around one more pass. we were almost to 3 grand and Jim took me to the open door. I heard the engines cut Jim looked at me and said NOW!. I jumped did a nice arch and pulled my ripcord my parachute jerked the beejessus out of me because I was a little head down. I looked up to see my parachute fully bloomed out. It was a sense of elation that overtook me. I steered my slotted T-10 toward the landing bullseye and just a little outside the ring I did a perfect PLF parachute landing fall. I lay on the ground for a moment only and started to collect my chute and Jim came swooping down next to me. He gave me a hug and said good job. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. Jim looked at me and declared Case of beer I drove to the local stores and purchased 2 cases of cold beer. I took it back to the DZ and that night me, Jim, Ed Avery, Marc Janchak, Stan Bussey, Ernie King, Anibal Turneaurua, Cheryl Morgn, Chuck Henderson, Ski and Donna, Pat and John Conway, and Bill Foster got blasted to celebrate my first freefall. I remember this time as the very best part of my life. I continued to jump and got to know Jim better. I loved Jim and all my jumping buddies. I cried when I heard that he had passed away. He was a great man, a man of courage, Honor and integrity. Well I guess I have to close now because this has got me crying again. We will miss you Jim you were one of a king. RIP Buddy.