wolfriverjoe

Nah. They're claiming 'prosecutorial miscounduct' and entrapment. They're pretending he was tricked into lying to the FBI, so therefore the FBI should be prosecuted. Which is utterly hilarious. It's been decided multiple times that the cops can trick, lie, pretend, and just about anything else to get a confession. Legally. Yet if the interviewee lies to the cops its a crime. Really. That's the part SkyDekker is referring to (I think). If what they did to Flynn means he should be let go, and the FBI prosecuted (Don Jr's Tweet calls for that), then there are literally millions of people in US prisons who should be let go too. And tens of thousands of cops put in jail.

Well, the Mango Mussolini needs a distraction from his disaterous handling of the pandemic. The documents that 'exonerate' Flynn are hilarious. It's an FBI memo trying to decide whether or not to tell Flynn what they already knew. As in 'Do we tell him that we have proof he committed a crime? Or do we ask him about what we already know and see if he lies about it?" The fact that the Trumpettes are latching onto it full force only goes to show how gullible they are. And how ignorant of the law and police interrogations (rule number 1 - I will answer your questions only after I have consulted with my attorney and have him present when any questions are asked). Edit to add: Here is one story I found. A search will find dozens of others. Choose based on your prejudices: https://www.vox.com/2020/4/30/21242695/michael-flynn-bill-priestap-notes-total-exoneration-trump-russia

Unfortunately, the governors are facing growing resistance to managing it 'smartly'. Wisconsin is currently seening the Rs sue the D governor to open up the state NOW. THe fact that the lines from election day resulted in a bunch of new infections is being ignored. So are all the new infections at several meat processors. Brown County (Green Bay) has seen numbers go from 200 to over 1000 in two weeks. In Michigan, lawmakers put on body armor when voting on opening up the state because the protesters decided to enter the captol bulding... With their guns.

Maybe we could have them cast a spell on themselves. Get hit by a truck or something.

I think you are overestimating the understanding and intelligence of 'most people'.

Sure there is. Trumpettes use it to hurt Biden. The very simple fact that they are quoting someone who hated America in order to support someone who is destroying America is completely lost on them due to the fact that they've been conned into believing the 'left' is going to destroy the country with 'Socialism'.

Well, there's an emergency rule in place that allows corporations to 'self police', that is, the EPA isn't the one making sure the rules are followed. Do you trust large corporations to be honest about that? Or do you think they are going to do whatever makes them the most money? What do you think about all the abandoned hard-rock mines sprinked throughout the west that are toxic waste sites? Where the mine owners used a wide variety of toxic crap to extract or process the minerals they were extracting and then just left it. How about the rivers that the mills of various sorts used as convenient toilets. Just dumping all sorts of crap in them. The Cuyahoga caught on fire in Cleveland at the end of the 'free pollution era' in the 60s. The Fox River near me (empties into Lake Michigan at Green Bay) was a convenient dump for all the paper mills around here. A lot of what they were dumping was PCBs. By the early 70s the river was essentially dead. No edible fish. Unsafe to swim in. Since that 'rampant' EPA reigned them in, the river has largely come back. Part of that involved a huge dredging project, because PCBs settle to the bottom and don't move (makes the bottom feeder fish like Catfish very toxic). The big paper companies spent a lot of energy trying to fight it. But they put the crap there, they were responsible to get it removed. And the very simple fact is that the air in the LA Basin was toxic by the early 70s. Dangerous. People were being advised to move away if they developed respiratory issues. Much of the improvement was due to emissions controls on cars, but a significant portion of the pollution was industrial. The air, while far from perfect, is improved by a very large margin. If I said I wanted to drive my car 120 mph down the freeway, but those 'rampant' cops were stopping me, you would (correctly) tell me that I shouldn't be doing that, it risks the lives of too many other people. Well, the EPA is just the 'cops' that stop polluters from risking my life and everyone else's with toxic shit.

Gotta love how all the people who claim to 'not support Trump' are attacking Biden.

Fair enough. However, as I noted, Trump and his administration are doing everything they can to dismantle the social safety net. And a lot of other programs that protect us and our environment. All so his very wealthy donors can make bigger profits and pay less taxes.

I'll try (but check with your care provider 'cuz I ain't no doc ). Can you define 'motion vertigo' a bit better? What sorts of environments trigger it the worst? What meds do you take? Some of them have drowsieness as a side effect. While that would be a bad idea for a sport jumper or AFF student, it's not a 'deal killer' for going on a tandem. For 'normal' people, vertigo & motion sickness is usually brought on by the motion detected by the inner ear and seen by the eyes being in conflict (you are inside a plane, you don't see anything move, but the plane is moving up and down so your inner ear senses that). The thing about jumping is that you are outside. You can see what is going on, so what you see & what you feel are the same. Some folks get a bit queasy under canopy (after the parachute opens), but the instructor can 'take it easy' on you and give you a gentle, smooth ride. Make sure you discuss this with the DZ. You won't be the first to have this issue, and different places will address it differently. And if the instructor knows you are subject to these issues, then they can do things that will make 'ruining their day' less likely. Believe me, they don't want it to happen either.

When you said 'I'm not interested in being looked after'. When you said 'operating under the false dichotomy that the government will take care of you'. The current administration is taking huge steps to dismantle the social safety net. The alt-right rails against anything that helps the poor as evil 'Socialism'. While I don't put you in the 'alt-right', you certainly seem to support Trump and the current administration. Keep in mind that all the stuff put in place by FDR was very strongly opposed by the Rs at the time. It was derided as 'Socialism', just like today. And oh yeah - Federal protection of bank deposits and rules overseeing the stock market and insider trading.

For what it's worth, I'm in Wisconsin. The two DZs I jump at have been closed since the end of October. While some folks are 'gypsy' jumpers and travel south to work in the winter, some aren't. Some fun jumpers will take winter vacations to places where they can jump. There are a few hardy souls who will jump in the winter. Skyknights in East Troy puts up Cessna loads on nice winter weekends. Seven Hills does a 'land on the frozen lake' demo in Madison in February. And will put up a load or two on nice winter weekends. But many of us up here haven't jumped since fall. Same as every winter. Getting current in the spring is a normal routine. It's just going to be a bit longer this year. It is possible that it won't be at all this year, and will wait until next year (I really hope not, but it's possible).

It's good that you are able to 'look after' yourself. Many folks don't have that luxury. Doesn't the preamble to the Constitution say something about "provide for the general welfare"? I am currently able to look after myself, and have been doing so for my adult life. But that doesn't mean that I won't need help tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. It would seem that the Rs are fine with me just 'going away'. Because actually taking care of people who need help is 'socialism'. Apparently large numbers of people going bankrupt or dying is preferrable to that. It's kinda funny. The local PBS station is running Ken Burn's "The Roosevelts". The part yesterday covered FDR during the depression and the lead up to WW2. It noted that Social Security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, maximum hours & overtime, the right of labor to organize and a couple other things that I can't remember at the moment were all from the "New Deal". That's all under the idea that 'the government will take care of you'. Are you willing to throw all that away?

What about the "57 states"? Obama had a few 'misstatements' during his time. He was routinely roasted heavily by the right for them. Funny how those same people are silent, or make really lame excuses when Trump does the same thing. At least none of Obama's statements would have killed anyone.

KInda funny how the accusations against Kavanaugh & Trump were ignored by the right. How the accusers were threatened, ridiculed and attacked. And how the right basically ended up saying "it's not that we don't believe you, it's that we don't care". And NOW those same people wonder why Biden isn't being roasted over this.

Nothing mysterious about it at all.

"Deliberate homicidal stupidity" Sums it up rather succintly.

Well, his need to stand in front of the cameras and get attention He just couldn't stay away from them. So he held a 'press conference' today, which was very similar to his 'corona briefings'. And, of course, when asked why calls to poison control centers have increased, he 'can't imagine' why that would happen. Go figure. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/494943-trumps-press-conference-feels-a-lot-like-coronavirus-task-force Link is "The Hill", but it was covered by all the outlets.

Gonna disagree with you somewhat on that. While there are things 'bigger than Trump', the idea that the President is above the law is aborrent. The idea that he cannot be held responsible for his crimes goes against every principle this country was supposed to be founded upon.

And, of course, it isn't true. While there aren't as many murders by extreme Christians, they have and do happen. Many are committed against abortion providers.

Actually, the media is treating him very gently, given the rampant stupidity he's been displaying and the blatant lies he's been spouting. There has been some significant criticism of this. Some news outlets stopped running his 'briefings' live because there were so many lies in them. It was bouncing around FB right after the 'inject disinfectants' crap: 'There should be an automatic Pulitzer Prize given to the first journalist who shouts out "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!?!" the next time Trump says something that stupid.'

If the situation is still severe enough, if the infection rates are still high enough, if it's still bad enough that social distancing is still highly recommended, then no. I'm not going to get that close to that many people for that long 'just for fun.' MAYBE if it's people that I know have been well isolated, only 4 of us in a 182, maybe. However, several of the folks I regularly jump with are working in essential fields, interacting with numerous people daily, clearly at higher risk. A couple of them are being very casual about their behaviors. Getting close, no mask, just not taking it all that seriously. A couple others work in hospital settings (not actual health care workers, but at the facility). I wouldn't want to be on a plane with those people. And, on 'the other side of the coin', if hospitals are still dealing with a lot of Covid patients, even if they aren't at capacity, I wouldn't want to risk a jump. The reality is that getting badly hurt is possible on any jump. Risking ending up in a hospital with a lot of sick people (and potentially sick health care workers) 'just for fun' is not a risk I'm willing to take. As I've heard it said to people who are thinking about taking a break from jumping for whatever reason: The sky will be there. I think I'll wait until the world is a bit less dangerous before I add the risk of jumping back into the equation. Note: This is my opinion and evaluation of the situation. Others will have different opinions and evaluations. As long as they are based in science & reality, they are entitled to them and I won't argue. If they are saying "I wanna jump!! This is all a hoax!!!", then to hell with them and their idiocy.

Why does anyone do something dangerous? It could be riding motorcycles (street or track), fast cars, scuba diving (caves & shipwrecks especially), hunting dangerous game, climbing (rock or mountain), and on and on. The answers are as varied and wide ranging as the people doing it. The rush, the challenge, the satisfaction of doing something most others wouldn't, the cameraderie of being around like-minded people, and many other reasons. Dan BC had a quote that bounced around FB a couple years ago. Something to the effect of: What we do is really, really stupid. Intentionally throwing one's self out of a plane for fun would be the dumbest thing in the world, except for the fact that flying through the air, with no support at all, just you and the sky, is the most amazing thing in the world. My reasons and responses to the wuffo question of 'why do you do it' has evolved over the years. Currently, I will answer 'Because it's the most amazing and incredible thing I've ever done, and my life would be dull boring and grey without it.'. That doesn't discount the risk. I've been around long enough, seen enough and lost enough friends that I understand that any time I go out the door, it might be the last thing I do on this earth. I have asked myself more than once: "Is it worth it?" The answer someday will be 'No, it's not'. That will be the day I hang it up. But not today (well, whenever stuff opens up and I can go up again anyway).

Yet the 'Main Stream Media' is at fault for publishing 'Fake News'.

Interesting story that many of the posts pushing for re-opening society may be coming from trolls & bots: https://www.businessinsider.com/trolls-bots-flooding-social-media-with-anti-quarantine-disinformation-2020-4?fbclid=IwAR3DnYwN8mh9uDhUA2oNy6JGx1S-Wu610k1JvaHSXvaNafzGupnjsc-sXYg Also touches on the facts that the groups organizing the protests in MI are funded by DeVos. The protests in other places have somewhat shady funding too.