JoeWeber

My network of spies, busy bodies, and eavesdroppers informs me that on board is Hunter Biden.

Perception is not reality, hence the eye witness conundrum.

Certainly, that's just what you'd expect if they were being used to commit high treason; stuff some in the glove box, a few under the kitty litter pan, others just scattered about. You're one sharp cookie, I must say. I hope you get the credit you deserve.

As a practical matter, I always discount the credibility of anyone who hides behind a facade. Believe as you like but I consider that assessment a fair starting point. So, if you are afraid to state out loud who you are that's a chip on your shoulder, officer. A quick look at Oregon PERS rules didn't exclude overtime pay. Sure I could have missed that but in any case I don't care, it's not my argument. In my opinion, if need be, we should increase police pay until the right people start applying. But we should also increase training and accountability a lot. No way should a rookie have a gun in less than half a year of slap dash training. In fact they shouldn't even be through 20% of academy training at that stage. Gun certification shouldn't even start until year two. Also, every effort should be made to make the forces not look like paramilitary organizations. The crooks aren't impressed, obviously, and the citizenry are too often afraid of those who claim to serve and protect. As I stated: defanged not defunded.

Let me guess, you're a cop. Do I get a cookie? For credibility don't be anonymous.

Your interpretation of what constitutes child abuse is what is being discussed. You are right about gender reassignment surgery on minors, that is without any argument from me. Sadly, there are strange lines that must be crossed at birth regardless of other considerations. Unfortunately, those strange lines have been used to degrade your central point.

No need to pander to Winsor. Yes, he's wicked smart but he's not alone here. You've described your nature, and that's fair. But unless your "we" is the royal "we", I'll speak for myself.

Sure, if that's your comparison. But $60K-80K starting plus benefits and job security plus a pension after 20 years and the ability at 45 years old to take a second cop job for a second pension is a real thing. No, it's not like truck driving.

Bingo. Instead of thinking jump tickets cover the cost of someone like him, maybe he should hire a super experienced coach to advocate his position with management and offer a premium on all costs to the DZ for accepting the additional risk? That's way the rest of the world works, last time I checked.

Thus spake Rod Blagojevich, hero of Chicago politics. We really are a sorry lot of pretenders. The world as it is is nothing like we want it to be and it is unlikely to ever be so no matter how much recycling gets tramped to the curb.

The only difference between the cops and the criminals, too often, is the badge. You should worry about door #3 for a couple of reasons. Number one is you are right and being right, these days, is a problem. Number two, young nipper, is that all I need to do is come up with good ideas (most at a highly discounted rate), you on the other hand will be paying for them and will do all of the suffering if they are actually dumb ideas. Have a wonderful evening.

There it is. In most parts of the country police work pays well, very well. Sure there is shift work but there is shift work everywhere. The bottom line is that it is just too damn easy to get a badge and a gun in America. Either that is enough to bring out the worst in some or some already had the worst in them. If we need to pay more then let's pay more but not under the current rules. Let's require real academy training spanning years that includes lot's of supervised trainee time on the street without a gun. And let's have genuine accountability.

Good for you, and probably the rest of us too, that the lyrics to bird song are yet to be deciphered.

Jerry, you are right in an absolutest sense but as a general proposition born males will have an advantage. The problem isn't that but rather the framework of sport being a decider of societal advantage.

Skydekker, man, I gotta say you've done a bang up job of explaining reality to Brent. The problem is we live in a world of immiscible realities such that even a great effort like you've made is doomed to frustration. Good on you, though.

Stuff like keep both hands on the top of the steering wheel as the cops approach, smile non-stop, say Yes, Officer after every question, and lay still on the ground while you are being beaten, that sort of thing would be my guess.

Great idea. Also, maybe unamericans, Canadians for example, could be blocked from pretending they have a say in our vote. Just a small fine should do. I'm thinking, an amount equal to one artillery round should suffice.

I actually owned a Soloy 207 for a week. A beautiful aircraft, I was told. It didn't have the reversing prop but it was paperwork perfect in every regard. Soloy, at the time had an STC'd jump kit which looked amazing, if expensive, so that was my plan for the jump mod.

Goddamn right you can. This is one area I am in complete agreement with the USPA if, that is, you have either the cash or rock solid financing.

But the fact that she posted that in a public forum as a defensive response remains emblematic of the entire point of you so eloquently made. Not only was she the unfortunate victim of an attack but she is also a victim of the glorification of guns in America; a glorification that is equally unfortunately made when Brent posts pictures of his arsenal covered with bullets hoping to show that guns and bullets alone do not a danger make. That such nonsense is considered mature and socially acceptable by some is, in my opinion, the real problem.

I'm with you. The goal and only sensible thing, in my view, is the removal of any and all artificial barriers to those that want to vote.

Except that we'll be pay their insurance premiums as well as the civil settlement.

Absolutely right. Body Cams were supposed to be the solution, instead they have become entertainment for asshole cops who know they can get a pass from their unions. This shit will never stop until our police can be fired that day for recorded on camera offenses. No paid leave, no early retirement, no none of the bullshit that exists now. That all means that they can then be charged. Our Police do not need to be defunded, they need to be defanged.

Yep.

It's a good idea, Dry January, but fraught with risks, too. Back in '80, after a particularly active month of debauchery, I decided to give it a rest one Saturday night. No problem so I added a Sunday. Then I thought to see what a week was like, then a month, then a year. I never quit the bar scene, I just wasn't boozing, and the years rolled on. It all ended on afternoon at a sidewalk cafe table with a girl in Paris, two weeks short of the ten year mark. I was just looking around at folks enjoying their wine and their companions and suddenly I could no longer ignore the ill effects of sobriety. The rest is history.