wolfriverjoe

Well, as is often the case, Heather Cox Richardson has an interesting tidbit:

It makes Obama look bad. I can't figure out what part of it Biden was supposed to have. I can't recall ANY mention of him when all the fools were blaming Obama & HRC for everything. But, since Biden is running, they have to attach him to it. The 'what the fuck' part of it is how many idiots actually fall for this garbage. But considering they still believe that HRC & the dems had children enslaved in the basement of a restaurant that never had a basement, then I guess it's not all that surprising.

Ummm... It couldn't have 'turned into' a nothingburger. That would imply that it started off as a 'somethingburger'. Anyone who pays ANY ATTENTION AT ALL knew that the Biden/Ukraine story was Russian propaganda. And has known this since Fiona Hill testifed before the Senate. Almost a year ago.

Yet he 'knows more than everybody about everything.'

Wasn't it the noise of windmills that cause the cancer?

I started at 37. Professor Kallend (a rather prolific poster over in Speaker's Corner) was in his 60s when he started, IIRC. There's only a limited amount of 'book learning' that you can do. Most of it is 'doing'. BASE is a somewhat typical goal. For a newer jumper, it's a ways off. I would suggest you concentrate on the journey more than the goal. You may find that once you get in the sky, something else has a stronger pull (wingsuit, freeflying, competition, coaching/teaching, ect). One thing to focus on that will apply is canopy control. Learn to fly the canopy well and land accurately. Those are important for BASE (and skydiving too).

Ok, someone correct me if I'm wrong. The FBI seized Hunter Biden's laptop a while back. There have been several career intelligence specialists who testified under oath before congress that the whole Biden/Ukraine story is Russian propaganda. Now, less than a month before the election, Rudy Giuliani (the president's personal lawyer) is saying that there's evidence of some sort of crime. Nobody but the Post (owned by Rupert Murdoch) has published this. Barnum was right.

Maybe so, but the process for coming into the country was incredibly stupid. Long lines in tight spaces. Anyone who was contagious probably infected a bunch of others while waiting to clear customs. One thing that's being missed is the simple fact that we knew so little back then (and still don't know a whole lot). The comparison with the flu back in February wasn't totally out of line. We know better now. Part of the whole 'scientific process' is that wrong assumptions will always be made. Learning from the mistakes and moving forward as knowledge and understaning improves is typical. Those who don't understand that will be the ones who go back to those old claims and ignore the fact that we know more now than we used to. However, we DID know back then that it was a communicable disease. And that travel bans and quarantines would be effective no matter how contagious or dangerous it was. But Trump totally dropped the ball. As I noted earlier, the 'ban' from China was half-assed. But travel from Europe (especially Italy & Switzerland) wasn't even 'half-assed' banned... While the disease was clearly spreading. There's some evidence (based on the genetics of the virus) that most of the cases in New York city came from Europe, not China.

While that's certainly a part of it, you can't ignore the simple idea that people believe it because they WANT TO. I wasn't aware of the ties & parallels with Anti-Semitism, but I'm not at all surprised. It's the same mentality. And the same sorts of people. Not just the stupid and uneducated (they do play a part), but the marginalized and desperate. Largely older white men, people who's racism and misogyny were not socially acceptable for the past 40 years or so. First Obama gets elected. Those people have to put up with one of THEM in the White House. Then the SC legalizes gay marriage. It's now 'shoved down their throats'. Then it becomes apparent that HRC will be the Dem nominee for pres. A woman and an "Obama Lover". So along comes Trump. And he says all the garbage that these morons wish they could. Mexicans are rapists. Muslims are terrorists. Beat up people who disagree with you. Women should be 'grabbed by the pussy'. Jews are good accountants. Nazis & KKK are 'very fine people'. His people are 'above the law', but those he dislikes should be arrested (without charge). Then, along comes "q". Giving these suckers a belief that they have 'inside information'. Coming from those close to Trump. Or Trump himself (despite the fact that Trump said he doesn't know much other than they like him). Giving the fools the hope that HRC and the rest will be arrested and taken to Gitmo for 'military tribunals' (and hopefully torture). The parallels and similarities to how the Nazis demonized the Jews is very scary. But hey, it gives them the hope that they will be back on top, the way they used to be. The idea that women and minorities should have the same rights as them is abhorrent. So they keep on believing it, regardless of how often the "drops" have had accurate information or predictions (zero).

Oh my. That's... Really fucking stupid. Given the skills it takes to actually pull of XRW, for those guys to be taking a new jumper on one in this way is really stupid. I can get the idea that she doesn't know any better (doesn't know what she doesn't know), but they certainly should. I'll guess they're trying to justify it by saying crap like 'we know what we're doing', and 'we are making sure she's not doing anything she's not capable of'. But, yeah, they're just trying to get laid. And, as the S&T A you talked to pointed out, there's not much you can do if the DZO where they are doing it is not stopping it.

I'd bet pretty heavily that they've already figured that part out. I'm gonna guess he's the only one of the group that isn't in jail.

Well, the 'funniest' part of this is that they publicized it themselves. Pretending that the boxes allow the people dropping them off to 'designate' someone else to turn the ballot in. Either they are too stupid to know how that works, or so arrogant they think they can get away with it.

Can't argue with the origins of it, but isn't that what put the 'flavor' in the kids that "It" killed? Stephen King's "It".

Not really. I think that "Trumpism" is far more a symptom of the disease than the disease itself. Keep in mind that McConnell & the rest of the Rs put party before country quite a while prior to Trump rising to prominence. Trump wasn't even thought of as a candidate back in 2012 when McConnell decided to "oppose anything Obama brought up, even if it would be bad for the country". And Trump had barely gotten out of the gate when they decided not to even consider the Garland SC nomination.

I wonder how many swastika flags would be flying at that German rally if they weren't prohibited.

What do you mean 'XRW Mr Bill'? My understanding of XRW is flying a high performance canopy in formation (or linked) with a wingsuit. A Mr Bill is when two jumpers go out linked, and one (Sluggo) pulls right out the door. The 2nd (Mr Bill) then hangs on and eventually falls from the guy flying the canopy (supposed to scream 'Ohhhhh Noooooooooooo' as he falls away). Presuming they are using a canopy big enough that it doesn't get super fast, and grips taken aren't in bad places, and they don't take a delay out the door... It's 'safeish'. Good way to break a finger or two, scuff the hell out of your hands, maybe a few other things. But it probably won't kill them. He should probably have more jumps than that, but if he's been talked to and is still doing it (and the DZ he's doing it at knows and is ok with it)... He won't stop. He may learn. He may learn the hard way.

Ummm... Disease running rampant. Unemployment rising. Brown people rising up in the streets. I think that would be 'shithole.' However, with the President issuing 'stand by' orders to white supremacists, praising the murder of protesters in the street, attempting to suppress votes that would likely go to his opponent, calling for his AG toady to arrest people he doesn't like (without valid charges), rampant corruption and criminal behavior by him and his spawn (tax evasion and a lot more), blatantly ignoring and defying protocols for the pandemic (Lindsay Graham is refusing to take a test so that the SC nomination can proceed, Trump is refusing to release results of his tests). I think that would be 'banana republic.' So... Both?

Don't forget the proposal to close the border with Mexico. And the fact that people from Italy & Switzerland were allowed to enter, despite Covid running rampant there. Because they were 'nice people' (you know, 'not brown').

The difference is there, but it's not all that big. Overall, you're overthinking it some. But that's not entirely a bad thing. As you have noted, a mistake in this area can have serious consequences. Planform difference will likely be as much as the W/L difference. The 'responsiveness' still won't really be there. But that's actually a good thing. If you need more maneuverability to avoid, say, a canopy collision, then there were bigger mistakes that should have been avoided. OTOH, that 'maneuverability' can work against you, as in accidentally flying yourself into the ground doing some sort of avoidance move or simply reaching for the ground if you get hit by a gust at the wrong time ('unlearning' that response takes a while).

Well, Moe Rocca (on WWDTM) found out what Pence's inner monologue was during that part of the debate:

Yeah. It's kind of funny how the protests die down... Until another unarmed black man gets shot in the back by the cops.

You'd think so. But not necessarily. Wisconsin is seeing the highest rates in the country (and the world). We saw over 3k new cases reported yesterday. And people are still refusing to wear masks, fighting against any orders reducing capacity of public spaces, arguing against doing anything that the experts recommend.

Not in so many words. But to consider any military style semi-auto rifle an "NFA" gun would be a de facto ban for a lot of people. Part of that is getting approval from the chief of police or sheriff. There are a lot of them that won't sign the form no matter what. But this is just what the campaign is proposing. Despite the setbacks, the NRA still carries a lot of clout. Obama proposed a fairly comprehensive ban right after the shooting in Sandy Hook. Despite having a D majority in the Senate, it failed 40-60. The chances of getting this proposal into law is pretty slim.

Yup. I've been scared of that orange idiot since Nov 9, 2016. County Sheriff is an elected position. Ya gotta remember that there's as much racism, bigotry & hatred 'up north' as there is anywhere. Rural Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, ect is just as bad as anywhere in the south. It's just not as apparent because there aren't very many non-whites outside the urban areas. Fun fact: One of the accused was pardoned last year by the governor of Delaware. He had been convicted of possession of a gun during a felony & receiving stolen property. Got it from a story on a local TV station website: https://www.wbay.com/2020/10/09/ag-michigan-governor-family-were-moved-as-plotters-tracked/?fbclid=IwAR0G1s_TX9zJba6j6ozAYXtYqUfewzm2mk8ZbPkFqKMZ5iry8qdjTehN2J4

Well, I'm about as pro-gun rights as it gets. But something that will 'wake up' the anti-gun folks, and to a degree not seen since the early 90s, is the idea of right wing idiots prancing around with military style weapons. Toss in the idea that those idiots are going to pretend to 'protect people and their property' and end up committing murder, the idea that some of those idiots are going to try to instigate an armed insurgency, and they might actually get some traction.