BIGUN

Understood. Thanks.

Help me understand this one.

You haven't waited long enough. Law Enforcement, Good Christian father, seven children vs. someone named Ali.

Not at all. And you know I was fueling the fire with the "Mental Health Problem."

Ken, I am probably THE least blind on this subject in this forum. You might want to get to know me.

Phil, here's what I do know and before everyone does the BIGUN dogpile. In the past three years, my daughter's school has been placed on lockdown several times. And, it seems like this, like most things, has an attention span in here of dissipating until the next event. Then everyone starts getting all - "America's Freedom Sucks" again. Here's where "I'm" at . . . ~Two years ago, I spent a considerable amount of time writing up a manifesto for the left - the only one to take action on here was TK and he put it square in his platform while running for office. Some from Canada didn't even realize the baseplate was their own Canadian gun laws. Some from Britain poo poo'd it as not enough. In those same past ~two years, how many on here have written to their representatives about gun legislation. Here's where "we're" at . . . There will never be a change to the US Constitution rescinding the second amendment and anyone on here who thinks it ever would is fooling themselves. So, what "we're" left with is "Well-regulated." How much more - there's somewhere around 2,000 federal and state gun control laws - How's that working for you? /drphil voice. There's currently legislation that has two major components, 1) It would make the waiting period a firm 10 days; no instachecks, here's your gun, thank you, and 2) It closes the "Gun Show" loophole - all sales of weapons including private would have to go through a licensed gun dealer with the exception of spousal gifts. Now, here's the silly part - I'll sell you this gun and we'll back date the bill of sale to before the legislation took effect. And, the Democrats will realize their mistake and make a new law changing the first law and the Republicans will cry - SEE!! They're incrementing their way to take our guns!! And, the SCOTUS will step in and, and . . . And, the Democrats will rise up at the next event and holler louder and say, WE NEED TO DO MORE!!! Those evil nasty AR's are at fault - they need to be BANNED!!! And, the Republicans will say - SEE!!! They want more legislation. They want our guns. They want to take away my choice of guns, my FREEDOM!!! You don't hear about these things: https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_policy_on_laws_governing_guns_and_firearms,_2017-2020 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5717/text The bottom line, Phil is: Until both sides are willing to sit down and negotiate for all of America on this point - nothing is going to change. Nothing. Everybody is saying words and pointing fingers, but nobody is actually DOING anything. And, it will happen again.

OK. So what's your point? (this is a blatant setup)

We don't "feel" that way; it's guaranteed in writing. And, can we not do the name calling thing. You can make your point without getting inflammatory. I know; I've seen you do it.

Money

Both interesting essays - thank you.

And that, is not a "gun problem" that is a "people (mental health) problem."

I have been observing this digital currency for about a year now and have stuck my toe in the pond "a little" and am going to echo a bit of what Ryoder said. Here's my observation: We have been on digital currency for awhile and the venues keep growing. From credit cards, debit cards, Google Pay, PayPal, Apple Pay, Venmo, Zelle, etc. But, those are all tied to one's bank account. WRT Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. I have my concerns. I don't see it as "legal tender," but I do think we need to look at as a type of commodity. So, I think there's a place for it, but I'm not willing to put my full faith in it yet as a real currency.

It's a great time to be alive - Technology, Energy, Space, etc. How cool is this - stick a water quality sensor in a dishwasher and it pushes the data to the water municipality. "A systems engineer by trade and a problem-solver by nature, I repurposed our dishwasher’s sensor to create my first water-quality measurement device. When technicians don’t have real-time visibility into what’s going on across the water distribution system, utilities companies either splurge on a single sensor bound to one location or rely on manual measurement, which can be costly and time-consuming. By simply getting access to the right information, each community water system in the U.S. could save thousands of dollars — and lives — annually for every sample collection point they have on-site." SOURCE: https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/entrepreneurs/varuna-world-water-day?utm_source=HPP&utm_medium=Keyword&utm_campaign=Varuna

Patrol

Well see, Joe. You're getting old and so you're not well-versed on the science of staircases. The staircase tread depth used to be a maximum of 10 inches. But, with people like you falling down the stairs, the code changed to 11 inches, so the staircases had to be retrofitted to extend the inch. So, they added a "lip" on the stair case and when you lift your feet up to the required 7 3/4" riser height to climb the stairs - anyone with a size 10 foot or greater will catch on that lip and so we see a greater number of people falling up the stairs; than down. Note: Of course this is all bullshit, but it sounds good. Well, it's all bullshit after the part about you getting old.

Brent, I'm about as right-wing as one can get and I'm probably the one most responsible for suggesting that thread be shut down. In 2007, I was not unlike you. I believed that AGW was bullshit and was deeply resolute in our party's platform. But, when people started using scientific data to erode my political beliefs; it began a period of exploration. One of the things that I reflected on was - we were the party of conservationism, environmentalism . . . From Ulysses S. Grant to the late 70's/early 80's; it was our party that vested the most in the environment. I can point to the time of change - 1973-1974. The first US oil crisis. Lack of oil/fuel, long lines at the gas stations, people fighting with each other at gas stations as to who was in line first. Price of gas for those who could get it was ridiculously high. And, the fight for cheap energy began. Then, in the early years of Reagan, there was this sudden stratospheric ozone hole which had been attributed to CFCs and HCFCs and the world shit its pants. It was the Reagan administration that pushed for an international agreement based on the work of atmospheric scientists and then began substantive regulations to address the world's greatest environmental issue of the time. But, the problem is/was you cannot fight for clean air, conservationism, environmentalism and cheap energy at the same time. So, the Republicans sided with the purses that were getting them re-elected and shifted from the party of conservationism to the party of Oil & Gas and abandoned what was for me - one our biggest core values - conservationism. So, with the help of several one here. some still here, some not; I asked for and received a path to understanding their side and to be honest; it wasn't with the intentions of learning their position as much as poking holes in it. Debate 101 shit. Learn what they know, so you can be prepared to defend against it. (this is where you're stuck). What happened was the opposite. I found out they were right and it unnerved me. So, I set out to learn more. Same result. The more learned the more I realized the "right" became so dug into being vested in cheap energy; we'd lost our way. But, there is an entire new faction of young republicans and it may interest you to know that young republicans between 18 and 38 actually score two percentage points higher than democrats in the same age range regarding their concern for the environment. For the first time in almost fifty years, both republicans and democrats are looking to discuss AGW and have real conversations about it. But, you are not. Your don't want to have an open dialogue. You want to dig your heels in deeper and go from stubborn to obstinate to defiance. And, it was a really bad game of cat and mouse. Populist BS versus scientists. Mercy rule? yeah, it was me calling for mercy on you.

He fell up the stairs. Who hasn't done that? In fact, what President hasn't done that since Ford. There's much more important stuff to discuss.

There is a GOD and she is moderator. Amen.

Ten U.S. states have mandatory waiting periods from 1 to 14 days. Georgia is not one of them. In the remaining forty states, you can walk in, point at a gun, they run a background check and give you the gun. Having said that, there is currently a gun bill that has passed the house that, 1) would make a federal ten day waiting period across the nation, and 2) closes the "Gun Show" loophole by requiring EVERY purchase of personal firearms to be run through a dealer and registered to the next owner. The only exception is spousal gift purchase. Well, unless you have Prime. Prime gets you anything and everything in two days and sometimes tomorrow.

If a thread is locked on dropzone.com; does it make a sound?

15 fucking years of this same circular discussion. It's like dealing with someone who really really needs rehab. They're never going to learn another way until they are receptive to another way. I just can't do this anymore, so I'm going to AL-AGAW. It's a safe place for me to understand why the loved ones of us who come to AL-AGAW are in despair, feeling hopeless, unable to believe that things can ever change. We want our lives to be different, but nothing we have done, said, shared or tried has brought about change in those we love that are deniers. The deniers come from all walks of life; young or old, rich or poor, man or woman. Deniers are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, children or grandparents, whose denial causes pain and fear for all who love them.

Well shit, I was slow on the uptake.

OMG!!! Joe where are you and who is torturing you with this vile swill?!?!?. I don't know who they are. I don't know what they want. If they're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money... but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like them. Tell them that If you let my friend go now, that will be the end of it - I will not look for them, I will not pursue them... but if they don't, I will look for them, I will find them... and I will make them pay.. Now listen to me carefully . . .when they come for you and they will; I want you to tell me everything you see, every sound you here and I will find you!!!

Your exact words were, " /collapse that is an EXISTENTIAL threat to the planet "AND" its inhabitants? A simple yes or no will suffice but feel free to elaborate. That's a double-parallel question. As in an immediate concern/fear for the planet's safety OR its inhabitants. Anytime someone uses "and" in a question with more than one issue, but asks for one answer - it is they that are being dishonest.