JoeWeber

Are you open to renting out your crystal ball?

No we don't. You're not without a point and the longer this continues without a cohesive and effective national strategy, that is nationally implemented, the better your argument will get.

If the D's get strong and go the 9/11 Commission route to get to the bottom of Jan 6 making everyone talk then I'll be happy. Otherwise, I'm gonna sulk.

Relax. They were just showing a little good 'ol, back home, republican unity.

The joint on Soi Cowboy or Sukhumvit Soi 26? Anyway, no. They are no smoking though.

All in perfect conformance with forum rules. Good that we have our standards.

Unity, Bill? This is McConnells statement after he voted for acquittal. Yes, he's guilty but there is this procedural thing that a minority of Senators think is valid so I'm going with that. "There's no question -- none -- that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," McConnell said in a speech following the vote that led to Trump's acquittal. "These criminals were carrying his banners. Hanging his flags. And screaming their loyalty to him." He called Trump's actions leading up to the siege "a disgraceful dereliction of duty." McConnell went further and suggested Trump could face charges now that he is out of office. "President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen," he said. "He didn't get away with anything yet." The Republican from Kentucky, however, said he voted to acquit Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection because, he said, it is unconstitutional to convict a president in an impeachment trial after he has left office.

I kick myself in the ass for supporting Kate Brown. I could not have been more wrong about someone. She has completely failed the test and OHA and their failures are her responsibility. Same with OSHA who she put in charge of lockdown enforcement but gave them no authority. Were it not for our top shelf pinot's, outstanding micro brews and world class strip joints a guy might as well live in New Mexico.

Well, sure, but Bill was framing it terms of Presidential respect.

We suck. We are weak kneed and scared of our shadows. We are unable to stand up to bullies and risk what may follow. Tonight I'm thinking just fuck it all. Tonight I'm thinking we could have 99 Democrats in the Senate and we'd still be asking for permission. We deserve what follows.

Negative. Post election the statement was that the issue had been "litigated" in the election and the American people decided, by electing Trump, they didn't care. Utter nonsense. Please share with me that evidence, otherwise please retract that statement. Even Lindsey Graham stated on video that Biden was as good a man as God put on the planet. (paraphrase probably but close) This I am unaware of but even if I was I wouldn't give a damn. Calling people bad because their lifestyle choices don't match up with your Victorian morality is what is bad, in my view. Jeez, Mitterand attended his swearing in with his wife and his mistress. So f'n what? Blood thirsty? Do you agree he is guilty of insurrection based on what you know? Come on, man. When the Republicans start acting in good faith would be my guess.

And now the spineless asses have backed off on calling witnesses. Well, at least they got gosh darn mad in defense of the Republic. Maybe to save time Schumer should just ask McConnell who he wants next on the Supreme Court.

Bill, Biden has thus far done nothing, absolutely nothing to warrant the slightest derogatory comment. Trumps long list began immediately after his election by reneging on his promise to release his taxes and on and on and on. He is fairly, and without fear of hypocrisy, called a liar, a cheat and a fraud and much much worse because of his own words and actions. Damn, were it not for the most blatant and glaring partisanship in the Senate he would already have been convicted of insurrection against the United States of America. Trump was not a good and decent person treated badly. There is no equivalency here.

The reality is that it's the buyer who should get a real estate agent, if they want protection. Arguably, without the excessive commission the seller would be asking less up front. Regardless, whoever gets it is still getting it and I still claim that +$25K on a $500K sale is simply excessive pay for an agent whose license is equal to 9 community college credits and who usually has no real world business experience. Being tied down to that level of experience by a 6 month exclusive right to sell employment contract that leaves you obligated both to pay even if you find the buyer and requires that you let them carry offers back and forth makes no sense to me. Your lawyer can handle the entire shebang, except establishing the sale price, for a grand or $1500 plus title and escrow. Yes, some buyers don't like FSBO but that is mostly due to impressive marketing by the real estate industry. What you do is vastly different than run of the mill home and land sales. Deals like you do wouldn't happen without shepherding. Home sales happen because people like the area and the price makes sense.

All true just as soon as you get back from vacation and develop the anti-gravity belt. Do you suppose Soros would fund it?

Not too shabby for a guy that got into MIT believing jump planes ran on CO2.

If you are gonna sell homes, don't sell yurts, I reckon. The most of what I've done has been real estate. 3 subdivisions, 2 major and 1 minor partitions and, except for one 19 acre piece I picked up for embarrassing reasons, I have never bought or sold through a real estate agent. All that you need are average wits, a few Stevens-Ness forms, knowing how to order a title report, and an attorney to finalize the deal and you are good. And, truly, all the attorney is there for is to make the counter party feel good about things. The reality is that most folks just drive around looking at property where they think they might want to live. They see a sign and they call the real estate agent. The real estate agent hasn't done jack for the seller except promise that the house will be listed in their brochures next printing. They will tell you that based on "comps" you should ask for X. X is not what they believe is top buck it's what they think they can quickly sell the house at. Because they are frothing at the mouth for the commission they almost immediately tell you what they think the seller will take. The Broker gets half the 6 or 7% and the agent maybe splits their 3 percent 2 or 3 ways. It's an absolute waste and a joke. Do not be fooled or prey. For sale by owner is the only way to go. Just study up a bit.

Not the way it works, Joe. Take a look at how long it was between when De Havilland stopped production of the Twin Otter in 1988 and Viking delivered the first -400 series in 2010. And the PAC doesn't have a fraction of the market penetration or the utility of the Twin Otter. The reality is that it's a variant of a fertilizing plane developed for op's in New Zealand. Outside of that a Caravan is a vastly better platform. I went to Hamilton NZ to inspect the first prototype back when. They are robust, for example the landing gear is actually built for 4-6 landings an hour, but for jumping they have big flaws in my view. The -34 engine isn't the best choice. Old tech. I think the -135 would have been better. The trapizoidal shaped door is too unlike the Otter which remains the gold standard for training. I did not like to door/tail geometry either. Also, nature didn't make any low wing birds, I've noticed. So I passed.

Man, I have ridden this stubborn damn mule too many times to see what you believe. Angry plaintiffs with a hard on for a large dollar payoff are everywhere until they sit in front of a contingency fee lawyer. I'm thinking you either had a shit case and got off lucky at 15 grand, or you were taken to the cleaners by your lawyers because you were foolish and ripe, or you refused to settle when the getting was good.

Too soon to worry. PAC has reorganized before. This time a major shareholder departed and the other major shareholder isn't exercising their right of refusal so they need to find a taker. I do think if it does go south Jerry is right about parts. With Twin Otters there were fleet operators who kept large stocks of new spares that found their way onto the market from time to time. I know I brought a full Otter load of new parts out of Columbia in '01 and a lot more was there. Not sure how many PAC's are operated in fleets, though.

That's the sign I've been waiting for, absolutely. Never in 33 years of buying fuels, for certain more than 500,000 gallons and maybe a million, have I ever seen a price increase of 20 cents in one month. Get real, Ron. Also, he isn't JB. He is President of the United States Joe Biden. Get used to saying it.

I don't see it. We had another 5 seconds to play so maybe if we had added jumpers then or got after it in the next couple of years we could have bumped it up a notch. It really wasn't just World Team but the culmination of a generation of big way jumpers developing the skills that made it possible. That and BJ Worth. He sorted out Russian planes in Bratislava, Russian helicopters in Anapa and Thai Air Force C-130's in Thailand. Sorting out the logistics of moving those numbers of jumpers around and navigating the politics would have melted a normal person. That and we got a lot more than World Records. Many American jumpers had never been out of the US before. For sure, it was the whole experience that kept people coming back for more and bigger records. I think that day has passed now. I was lucky enough to be on them all and I'll never forget a one.

Holy crap, Jerry, I was just looking at that. Damn awful business.

One has to wonder where you'd be now if you had just kept shiffling coins out of washing machines. Elon Wash? Jeff Dryzos? An American story lost. SAD!

At the end of the day it's about acceptance. No one who is catching a break owing to their skin color is unaware of what is happening. That makes it racism. Really, why hate groups of people when there are so many who are deserving on an individual basis. And it's more satisfying, too.