wolfriverjoe

Just like there is no doubt you get paid to post. I dunno. He's not all that good at it. I have my doubts. Given the intelligence level of the average Trump voter, he doesn't have to be all that good. He just has to be persistent, consistent and repeat the narrative that they want to hear. Standard techniques. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, there are congresscritters from both sides who have actually seen the evidence who are publicly stating that they believe Russia, with Putin in charge, deliberately released info (both true and false) to influence the election. And unlike in Russia, Trump won't control the legislature the way Putin does. There is a pretty good chance this won't just "go away" when Trump takes office. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Joe, Joe, old sport-- In an attempt to get things back on an even keel, let's look at this with a bit of balance if we can. Which do you think is the more deliberately insulting: libtard from this side of the political spectrum? - or racist, misogynist, Nazi, fascist and Klansman from t'other side? You know as well - probably even better - than I do that the latter (and lots more) have become automatic pejoratives in the mouths of progressive Hillary supporters when describing anyone of my political convictions. Same words are hurled at Brexiteers here in the UK. No need to get all steamed up again. Just askin'. I would consider "libertard" more juvenile. Along the lines of "conservetard" that Funjumper uses. It's also a strong implication that those people are "retards", which is along the same lines as Trump mocking the disabled reporter. Juvenile and very rude. I can have debates and disagreements without resorting to that level of behavior. Can you? Racist, misogynist, Nazi, fascist and Klansman are all accurate descriptors of people who actually are those things. For example, Trump is clearly a sexist and a racist. He had a lot of support from the Nazis and the Klansmen. Are you aware of the White Nationalist that the Trump campaign wanted to send to the Repub convention? Did you see the video of the Nazis shouting "Heil Trump"? How about the fact that one of Trump's two newspaper endorsements came from the Klan? Much of the same can be said of the Brexit "Leave" supporters. Both the "Leave" crowd and the "Trump" crowd used a lot of bigotry and xenophobia to push their agenda. By no means are all of them that, but to pretend that those types of people aren't largely on the side of the "Leave" vote or on Trump's side is pretty naive. There are some pretty ugly people on the liberal side, but they don't seem as ugly, nor are they as numerous. And it seems that the 'lumping together' of opponents and 'automatic pejoratives' come from the Trump crowd far more often that the Hillary crowd. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

No, that's not it. Honestly it seems like you're just so desperate for conflict that you're ignoring what has actually been said and substituting stuff you can argue with. And while the sight of you railing against imaginary opposition is quite amusing, it's not really achieving anything. Also, you're supposedly a brand new contributor here but you already come across as having a major axe to grind with several other posters. Funny that.... He's not exactly new. In addition to being a well recognized "old time" jumper, he has posted on here before. I remember his "spittle laced diatribes" from the DB Cooper thread, when he campaigned for it to be shut down. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Another blistering insight. Easy to see why you're so much more successful as an author than I am. Wow, I should have passed my manuscripts to you first rather than to a publisher; you could have taught me so much about style and composition. How do I go about ordering autographed copies of your books? Are they available on Amazon? Well, it's pretty clear that you can write well. However, when you chose to be as condescending as the above post, or use words like "libertard", you put yourself on the same level as Funjumper101, which is to say that you'd rather hurl insults than have an actual discussion. Ron gets a lot of criticism on here. But much of it (and all of it from me) is not directed at his faith, but at his hypocrisy. He claims to be "saved" by Jesus, then posts behaviors, attitudes and opinions that are directly opposed to those teachings. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Do you honestly believe that if the "dirty laundry" from both sides had come out, that the effect would have been the same? "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

"Weaving in and out of traffic, almost causing several accidents" is a good reason. He still got a "reckless" citation. I'm going to guess he failed the "stupid human tricks" too. They make it pretty clear they felt he was under the influence of something, just not something that would show up in the tests they do. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Why is this surprising? We've been shoving them out of airplane doors or releasing them in FF for decades. Although, we don't generally label them. We also generally let them loose to disperse. Not bag them up and put in a note asking whoever finds them to let us know where they ended up. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Her monologue in the tunnel is one of my favorite all time scenes. After trying to assassinate them throughout the entire movie, Elwood finally gets to ask the question everyone has been wondering... Who is that girl? And it's up on FB, from Twitter: "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, currently does. Powers of each branch are spelled out pretty clearly in the Constitution. I have a funny feeling that even the Republicans that supported Trump would get a "little bit miffed" if he tried for a power grab. I have a fair amount of faith in the checks and balances that are there. They aren't perfect, but I think they'll do. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Option 1 - use a Pro-Track or similar data logging altimeter. Do a few jumps with each suit to get valid data. Option 2 - Do a few jumps with someone, with you wearing each suit. You don't need a coach or instructor for this, just someone who can hold a steady fall rate. I had a couple of different friends get new suits late last summer. I had some fun doing "fallrate competitions". First slow to see which of us could go slower, then fast. We made sure neither got so far above or below that we could lose track of each other, just a few feet either way and if the "behind" guy started catching up (or down), then the "ahead guy" would slow down or speed up a bit more to keep the lead. Both of the other guys were very happy that I did that, and I had a lot of fun playing around with them too. I was just using my regular suit, and logged just over 100 for slow, and almost 150 for fast (on my belly, not diving or head down or anything). "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

There ought to be a line in the mix somewhere that says something to the effect of, "was prevented by stonewalling by the GOP." I mean, you know, just to be factual. Obama promised to close Gitmo, but I certainly don't think that should be held against him all things considered. What prevented him from keeping the promise (and a few others like it) was the GOP plain and simple. Gitmo was/is used as a holding and interrogation center to get as much intel out of them to capture others and prevent further acts of terror against the US and its allies. I support keeping the anti terror measures going in some way. Maybe not at Gitmo though. There are other facilities just as secure that could be used. But Gitmo as a military base was already established before Castro led the revolution against the old government... Gitmo was used because it's not US territory, so the government could do what it wanted without those pesky "laws" getting in the way. If the detainees at Gitmo were in the US, they would have either been tried or freed a long time ago. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I don't doubt that he would like to do much of that. I only somewhat doubt that he would try some of that. But would he/could he get away with it? I don't know. I don't think so. Don't forget how many Rs were against him from the start. They are on his side (sort of anyway) because he won, but I don't think it would take a whole lot to get them to go back to being against him. And if he was impeached and tried to stay, there would be real trouble. One thing to remember is that he has a very well armed and well trained group around him. Their loyalty is to the office, not the man. A few (or more than a few) bad choices in the past don't totally remove their professional credentials. If Congress properly impeached him for good cause and he refused, I see a pretty good chance of the Secret Service arresting him. He doesn't have the backing of the military, or even the solid backing of a majority of the public. There's also the reality of the job. Being President is hard. Look at the toll it takes on the man in office. My most likely scenario is that Trump finds out how difficult it is to get stuff done. He can't dictate to Congress, he can't dictate to foreign countries, he can't even dictate to the public. He may well get frustrated, go bonkers one too many times on Twitter and finally quit. The surveillance and harassment capabilities of the office are vast, as you noted. But even the IRS can't investigate 10 or 20 million people at once. Nor can the FBI, or even local cops (who likely wouldn't do Trumps bidding anyway). The "widespreadness" of modern communications will effectively prevent any serious crackdown on detractors. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I'm not looking to attack or defend Trump in any way. I've made it pretty clear that I think he's unfit for the office, and I have a lot of serious concerns about what will happen. Others are more optimistic than I. BUT... There are some pretty valid questions about his "baggage". He will be in violation of the Enoulments Clause without some major changes. His conflicts of interest are wide and deep. His lack of understanding of what a "Blind Trust" is is an issue (no, he can't just "give it all to the kids"). And then there's the rest of his behavior. So, will he serve out his term? If not, will he be removed or will he just give up and quit? Or will he be "taken out"? I see this as less likely, because the crowd that tends towards guns and violence is more on his side than against. Although that may well change when the "Alt-Right" crowd finds out how effectively they've been conned. Or will he make it? Even to a 2nd term? I don't know if it's an honest opinion or simple hope, but I don't expect to see him last out a year. But I also have a hard time seeing the Republican controlled Congress impeaching him. More likely that he resign. Edit: Oops, Got the "Greater Than" sign in there instead of the "Less Than." Can't edit the choices. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I'm not super big on "calendar holidays". I prefer to be decent to other people, thankful for what I have, generous and kind for the entire year, not just in December. And I really hate the commercialization of it. I might well have given a hearty "Bah Humbug", but Ryoder's "Reindeer Boob" thread made my day. So... Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good... Boob. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I wonder how his feeling of his "dream being crushed" compares to how the owners of the planes he stole and destroyed felt? I'm all for second chances. I hope he gets a chance to have a dream and pursue it. But before forgiveness, it would help if he expressed some remorse and made some real effort at amends (selling the rights to his story to Hollywood doesn't really count as "amends" even if the money gets paid). As I said, he was an arrogant little shit back then and still appears to be one. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

... The citizens of every state are all equally American. Not to Ron. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

The "beauty" of a private security force is they don't have to follow the same laws. I can't imagine that's going to go over well with his Secret Service guys though. Laws? Since when have laws stopped Trump or his minions from doing whatever the hell they want? And I don't see any conflict with the Secret Service. These goons won't be involved in protecting Trump or his family. They are the ones who will go out and "deal with" anyone who says bad things about him. I'd imagine they'd like to have a "talk" with Alec Baldwin. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Because Jill Stein paid for it. She made claims about the accuracy (or lack of it) of the machine counts. She raised the (approx) $3.5 million to have the recount done. I found it rather funny that Trump supporters sued to stop it, when Trump himself had said he might not accept the results of the election. The lawsuit failed. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

While I appreciate your take on it, the reason has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact the numbers are too large or difficult to add properly. The reason is that if we accept a popular vote we have to assume that 50 states and Washington DC have not screwed up their count through ineptitude or dishonesty. It's not a matter of high numbers, but where those numbers come from. What exactly do you mean? If the states can't get their counts right, it doesn't matter if we go with a direct popular vote or with the EC. Besides, we just had a recount here in Wisconsin. Despite claims of inaccuracy and tampered machines giving false counts, the count was pretty damned accurate. 1800 votes changed out of over 3 million cast. Net change of around 160. I may hate the end result, but I have no doubts that the election was fair and accurate. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I hope his PO make him give all the donated money to the victims of his crime spree. He stole and wrecked several planes, among other crimes. While there may have been insurance on those planes, it never covers all of the loss. I thought he was an obnoxious, arrogant little shit when he was on the run. Nothing here makes me have any different opinion. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Russia (and the Soviet Union) have been very good at the propaganda thing for quite a while. They are doing a pretty good job of it now. THIS article does a pretty good job of explaining what they do. IIRC, Quade linked it a while back, when we had one of these folks on here promoting the Russians during the Ukraine invasion. He was big on claiming that the Ukraine government was all fascists & Nazis. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, as with any legal question, the best answer is: It depends. However, I'm going to guess "sooner" is probably a good guess. Weeks rather than months. There are a number of appeal points, but as far as I can tell, none are all that complex or ambiguous. The judges have to meet, decide, assign a "writer", have that one write up the opinion, review and revise it and sign off on it. And don't forget, the plaintiff already "paid up." She had to post a bond for the judgement amount in order for the appeal to go forward. Mile-Hi hasn't seen it yet, but it's sitting waiting. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Among other things, this makes sense. Putin clearly favors Trump. As well he should, seeing as the ties between Trump and Russia are pretty clear (and disturbing). They've been documented, yet ignored. Trump's policy statements clearly favor Russia as well (ignoring NATO commitments among other things). Kinda funny how all the releases were detrimental to Clinton. I'd have a lot less problem with the "airing of dirty laundry" if it wasn't so obviously one-sided. OTOH, there were a lot of questions about the invasion of Iraq, the ties to AQ, the WMDs, all that. Those questions were either ignored or attacked (and the questioners themselves subject to some pretty nasty retaliation). "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Not strictly true. While a part of any sentence in a criminal case is "removing the threat to society", part is also punishment. Some sentences involve what is basically a "time out", where the person has to sit in a cell as punishment. The DP punishes a person by ending their life. We can argue back and forth about which is a "worse" punishment, ending the life or forcing someone to live it in a prison environment. Given that not a whole lot of long-term inmates commit suicide, I'd think that says a good bit about which is worse. But that doesn't mean that the "worse" one is torture. Although there are some claims that the conditions that prisoners in the "Supermax" facilities are in (pretty much solitary confinement) do constitute torture. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo