wolfriverjoe

Seen elsewhere: Uvalde is a small town. Edmond is a small town. Blacksburg is a small town. Sandy Hook is a small town. Sutherland Springs is a small town. And in those towns, real bad guys showed up, and no good guys magically took them down.

"Performance Patriotism". You're not a REAL 'patriot' unless you have about 20 US flags flying from your truck, including the altered 'blue line' ones. And wearing red white & blue everything*. * - of course, the 'code of conduct' for the US flag covers any sort of alteration to the flag, any placement of 'other emblems' on it. Or 'wearing the flag as apparel'. Helpful hint: those sorts of things are prohibited. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/8

So the 'silent majority' is a bunch of chickenshit bigots? Who are afraid of a picture of a trans person on a beer can? And so afraid of black people that they need to 'get my grandaddy's gun and shoot them'? Keep in mind that those "good old boys" in small towns have a VERY long history of lynching black people. Of course, country fans have a reputation of not being terribly smart. And of being racist hicks. How many of the 'silent majority' are flying Confederate flags? Something I've learned in the past 15 years or so is how MANY of the hateful, ignorant bigots were simply hiding under rocks, pretending to be civilized, decent people. At least they're being open about it these days. Makes it easier to know who to watch out for.

Holy moly! Completely, totally, utterly insane. I never joined Twitter. There were times I considered it, but I have enough going on that I really didn't need to add another social media outlet. As Musk's acquisition gets weirder and weirder, I feel more and more that I made the right decision.

Click on my link to the lyrics. It's a google results page. Click on 'videos'. Right there. And yeah, any song that says 'Fuck me in the ass 'cause I love Jesus' isn't going to be 'family friendly'.

I'm a bit surprised that this thread hasn't taken off. The constant stream of ignorant bullshit from the idiots in the "Freedom Caucus", Alabama defying the SC ruling for redistricting, Abbot breaking a WHOLE LOT of rules (federal, state and international) in constructing a barrier in the middle of the Rio Grande, the list is pretty long. However, one recent thing (not an actual 'statement') is both utterly hilarious and absolutely typical. Ohio SecState Frank LaRose is running for US Senate. He mad the formal announcement last Monday (17th). During the conference call the song "The Loophole" by satirists Garfunkel & Oats was playing. The song starts off very pious and proper. But it goes well beyond the 'bounds of propriety' fairly quickly. Lyrics (warning NSFW): https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0TLKoMkxPLygyYPRSSE8sSivNy07NUUjMS1HITyxJLVYoyUhVyMnPL8jIz0kFAI_dEQA&q=the+loophole+lyrics&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS910US910&oq=Garfunkele+an&aqs=chrome.3.69i57j46i13i131i433i512j0i13i512j46i13i131i433i512j46i13i512l2j0i13i512j46i13i512j46i13i199i465i512.8048j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&si=ACFMAn-NQkl3H6265t0r-8ceWzQU7TA2FhfjB7PCPnKu7wpWy2YAbKfuMMEXY-vtqMId_phQweQxPraIAGnC0mDxcV1ALLEfkvrNb63I_HXqH9U7oOJsfmgR3Rk_BUDBRaY-JRdJDHp2DF2zNeY_1lXytyPi_9juBQ%3D%3D&ictx=1&ved=2ahUKEwi_3MuFkaOAAxUrkYkEHZxiDLYQjukCegQIIxAC The staffers tried (and failed) to shut it off, asked everyone to mute themselves, put LeRose on hold and when he came back off hold... It was still playing. The staffers are trying to play it off as a prank by the opposition, with "campaign spokesman Ben Kindel told The Post on Tuesday that the the culprit was “probably” a supporter one of LaRose’s rivals who obtained dial-in information on the semi-private call with state GOP leaders." NY Post article:https://nypost.com/2023/07/18/obscene-song-the-loophole-overshadows-ohio-senate-candidate-frank-laroses-campaign-launch/ It's been speculated that in typical R fashion, they listened to the first verse: All my life I've been good Do what my mom and dad and God say I should Go to church and Bible School To live by God's rule So whatever people tell me That The Bible tells me I will do Walk the halls of high school with my purity ring Unlike those other girls, I've got my morals in check But didn't go far enough to understand the main premise of the song is that 'butt stuff' isn't really sex, so a girl can do that and stay a virgin (not going to quote those lyrics here). I'd also guess, mainly because it's what the Rs typically do, they didn't get permission to use the song from the owners of the copyright. Being endorsed by Trump in the last election, and refusing to distance himself, I'd like to point out that his campaign announcement could have included: MAGA - Make Anal Great Again

I'd guess that the 'discovery' process for that suit would have been a 'bit problematic' for the Mango Mussolini.

I wouldn't be too surprised if there are 'terrorist bombs'. The hatred and bigotry of his followers shouldn't be underestimated.

Well, if he hadn't been in a wheelchair, he might have been able to fight back. These are some seriously tough assholes.

Well, the Bald Eagle was not going to become extinct. There were too many in Canada & Alaska. HOWEVER... In 1963 there were only 417 nesting pairs recorded in the lower 48. There was a pretty good chance they'd be gone for a lot of the country. After banning DDT in 1963, and the Protection Acts that were put in place in the 40s, they came back quite nicely. Current estimates are over 70k nesting pairs in the lower 48. nearly a 200x increase. Not bad for a bunch of 'liberal hippie bunny huggers,'

A rainbow flag is worse.

Read Rob's post. The 'big gear shops' (Chutingstar, SQ1, a few others) will offer escrow services. Chutingstar has it on their website. https://www.chutingstar.com/rigging-services Alternatively, any rigger that you and the buyer can agree on will often do this. As above, you send the gear to the rigger. He inspects (for a fee) and tells the buyer that the gear is worth the price (and that it actually exists). Buyer sends money to rigger. Once funds are in hand, he sends funds to seller and gear to buyer. It's a small enough sport that finding a rigger whom you both can trust that will do this isn't all that hard.

Yup. That's why God told Jules not to eat pork. You know, right after God caused the miracle & saved Jules' life. RIght after Vince & Jules murdered 2 people (and right before they murdered a third and later a 4th).

Pretty much. Dietary rules look VERY suspiciously like 'food safety' from a time before they knew what that was. Take pork for example. Unless cooked thoroughly, it can be pretty dangerous. So the people who are smart say "Don't eat pork." But hungry people say "Pork chops taste good. Bacon tastes good. Why can't we eat it?" And the smart people say "Because God doesn't want you to." Kind of hard to argue with God. Kind hard to blame the priests for just 'passing on what God told them to tell you.' And, of course, the people who 'defy God' and eat the pork sometimes die. It's the same with a lot of the other stuff. Things that cost the individual, yet benefit society. The societies that implemented that sort of stuff did better than the ones that didn't, reinforcing the ideas. There's some speculation among sociologists that this sort of thing, where the people more likely to believe in God and obey the priests had better chances of survival, and that 'willingness to believe' (also called 'gullibility') actually turned into a survival trait and has evolved into people. Had this discussion a while back, but one of the 'hardcore believers' did a pretty good job throwing it off track with distraction and other bullshit.

Well, I would call Genesis the 'best bullshit' rather than 'best guess'. It's just the story that was told the most times that it became a 'true and real' story to the people telling & retelling it. Kinda funny how each independent society has it's own creation myth. And each of them claims that "God told us this is what happened." So either God decided to tell different people different stories to mess with everyone... Or he has Dementia and couldn't keep his stories straight each time he told them. Newtonian physics is an approximation, not a guess. It's perfectly accurate and useable to a pretty decent degree of precision. NASA uses it for most of the rockets sent into space. When a greater degree of precision is needed, relativity is brought in. GPS couldn't be made to work properly until relativity was factored in. The speed of the satellites and the precision the clocks need require relativistic corrections for the nav data to be accurate. Some of quantum will likely be replaced with more accurate understanding, but basic quantum is pretty solid. Refinement, not replacement. Of course, it's entirely possible a new field will be discovered that supplants quantum, just as relativity did with Newton.

Hi Jerry, Great. Let him. Let him rescind his guilty plea. Then put him back in jail (subject to release on bail), reinstate ALL the charges and try him. He did the 'cry in front of the judge and sound all sorry & shit' thing, let him face trial, almost certainly be found guilty* and then get the 20 year sentence that he originally faced. * - For those keeping score, NOBODY has been acquitted of all charges. Some have not been convicted of everything they were charged with, but everyone has been found guilty of something.

Well, 2 more of the insurrectionists have gotten significant prison sentences. Kyle Fitzsimons got 7 years. The Proud Boy known as "Milkshake" (Daniel Scott) got 5. https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-sentence-kyle-fitzsimons-butcher-f10612d99dc370a648f109547a4461d6 Not in this story is the part about Fitzsimon begging for money, then being ordered by the judge to use at least some of it to pay for his public defender. His wife has been begging, complaining how much it cost for them to deal with this. Of course, if he had pled guilty (or maybe not done it in the first place), then the costs would be much less.

The US is sending Bradley IFVs. Far better than M113s. While a bunch have been destroyed, and even more damaged (mostly repaired and put back into service), few of the troops in them, or in the modern tanks have been killed. That's the huge advantage of western equipment over Soviet (Russian). Crew survivability. Ukraine is 'fighting smart', and is seeing kill ratios that are very favorable. While its true they can't afford to lose as many soldiers as the Russians, first off they aren't. Second off the Russians do not have an 'endless supply' of troops. They've scoured the prisons. Last I heard, they're going after migrant workers. Both immigrants from the former 'Soviet Republics' and Russians from the far east. The Russians are also seeing soldiers refuse to fight. Those 'refusniks' suffer some pretty severe punishments, but they know full well that they're just going to die on the front lines anyway, so what's the difference? With Wagner mostly out of the picture, the Russians are really in trouble. They had a fair amount of time to create and construct really good defensive positions, but Ukraine is still making slow progress just about everywhere they try. The Russians are pretty much out of reserve troops. If (and it is a pretty big 'if') Ukraine can make a serious breakthrough somewhere, they're going to run rampant behind the Russian lines. There's very little to stop them. Rather prophetic of you. The bridge was badly damaged last night. It's going to be a couple months before one side is useable again. The 'how' is pretty speculative (as it has been). Current speculation is that they used a 'remote controlled explosive laden boat'. Apparently blowing it up from below is better than missiles from above. People who know more about these things than I do can make educated guesses from the damage. Pure speculation is that the Ukrainians 'MacGuyvered' a jet ski into a self propelled marine bomb. And as far as timing goes, the Ukrainians have a HUGE network of informants in occupied Ukraine. They know a lot about who is going where and when.

Honestly, I don't know. How far I'd be in favor of restrictions going isn't a question I have an answer to. 15 or 20 years ago, I'd be totally against them. Today? I don't know. I have seriously mixed feelings on it. It's abundantly clear from other places around the world that serious gun restrictions have not produced the authoritarian governments that many (including me) expected. We are getting some seriously fucked up and fascist shit going on here in the US, even with way too many guns. I DO know that I am no longer a 'single issue' voter, and that gun rights have gone way down on my 'selection criteria' for a candidate to get my vote. Again, 15 or 20 years ago that was not the case. The other thing is... Reality. There's more guns than people in this country right now. The money needed to compensate the owners, even at a fraction of the market value, is insane. It simply isn't there. Someone suggested 10% of the defense budget, but even that wouldn't get all the guns. And there's no way the military, the defense industry or the congress-creatures would go for that. This doesn't even get into the questions of how many gun owners would refuse to surrender their guns. How many would try to fight back (and lose). How many cops would refuse to take the guns away and how much of the military would refuse to participate if ordered (which would be an even bigger issue). I simply can't believe it would happen, unless a whole lot of the US changes. And changes a lot. We're definitely stuck.

I'm not Bill, but when I point out how useless and pointless most of the proposed 'solutions' are, I get asked the same question. To answer your questions directly: Trigger locks aren't as good as many like to think. As with any lock, it can be defeated. It's just a matter of how determined the person is to get through it. Trigger locks are ok for keeping kids away from guns. But that's about it. Biometrics have some promise, but it's got a lot of flaws. Keep in mind that ALL of the laws that mention biometric devices specifically exclude police from them. Despite the fact that a significant number of cops are shot with their own gun (can't find the number with a quick search), the cops refuse to use this technology. What does that say about it? Or maybe about the cops? "Secure your gun" laws have some merit. But how much of a difference will that make? How many of the high profile shootings happened with stolen guns? Versus how many happened with guns that were legally purchased? I keep repeating that "I don't know" how to fix it. I don't disagree that it's 'broken', but I don't see any real solutions. Bigun proposed making ALL transactions (or maybe just 'all military style semi-autos, not certain I remember correctly) subject to NFA rules. I never did respond to that, but my response could (should?) have been that it won't work. #1 - Miller vs US Supreme Court ruling basically said that NFA was unconstitutional. It was never carried through because Miller was never re-tried. So the ruling ended up in a sort of 'legal limbo'. Given that previous ruling and the current composition of the court, I can see a challenge to the NFA making it all the way through and watching the NFA disappear in the not-too-distant future. #2 - NFA rules have either the local sheriff or chief of police having final say on whether or not the purchase happens. Under current laws, a sheriff or chief of police who doesn't think 'those sorts of guns belong in our community' can veto any and all transfers. That's not speculation. That's real. #3 - Again, the sheriff or chief of police has to sign off on all transfers. How many of them are going to be willing to take on that much extra work (and responsibility). How many sheriffs didn't want to do the "Brady background checks"? Remember the lawsuits from them? How many have said flat out that they'd not bother investigating, let alone prosecuting violations of 'universal background checks'? The way that Australia & the UK dealt with 'gun violence' was 'confiscation & compensation'. They took most of the guns away from the public (and paid a fraction of the value to the former owners). That will NEVER happen in the US. Given the current Supreme Court (and the average age), it won't pass legal challenges for a long time (likely not in my lifetime). Given the strength of the conservative base here in the US (they're a minority, but Trump still got 75 MILLION votes in 2020), I honestly don't see any real changes happening any time soon.

I don't doubt that there ARE Abrams tanks in that picture... Somewhere. But the 3 in the front are M60s (I think). And the rows and rows look like m113s and some derivatives (the ones in the 2nd & 4th row are M577 command vehicles). One problem with giving Abrams to Ukraine is that US versions have Depleted Uranium armor. That's an item that cannot beexported. Export versions of the tanks have different armor. So the US tanks destined for Ukraine need to have the DU armor removed and replaced. There's only one place that can do that right now. Various other companies were solicited to do it, but none were able to meet the requirements. So it's going to take some time to make that happen. Also, don't forget that Germany 'dragged their feet' pretty good on the Leopard tanks. So it's not just the US. Plus, the "Freedom Caucus" (Freedom from decency? From Intelligence?) is dead set against helping Ukraine out. Those dipshits keep introducing legislation to halt aid.

My Pillow is auctioning off a lot of their stuff. The reasons for this are very clearly SC material. But there are a bunch (17 if I counted correctly) Juki DDL 9000B SH digitial readout machines, with table being sold. Current bids on them runs from $525 to $750. I don't know enough about commercial machines to know if these would be good for our sort of use. But I thought there would be a few people interested. Auction ends 7/18 (tomorrow from when I posted it).

Well, I would think that the victim should have the same ability to 'grope' as the attacker. You know, with their foot. Into his crotch. I know a woman who started taking Karate when her kids started. She's well along the belt progression. She showed me a video of a snap kick exercise. Just simple forward kicks, mostly with the lower leg. If not blocked, she could kick a dude in the nuts maybe 15 times in that 10 seconds. With the element of surprise for the 1st one (she doesn't look threatening in any way) and shock and pain after that, I'd bet she'd get a whole bunch in. Not joking in any way, shape or form.

So, as usual, you are completely ignoring the actual question. One more time, WHAT EVIL DID OBAMA OR BIDEN DO?? You can ask a "God fearing Christian a question, but don't expect an answer that is anything other than evasion". You are at least sort of close to the problem here. "Principalities and powers" doing evil. You know, the people that want to ban books, hurt people who are different, lie about the past, subjugate women, that sort of thing. Funny how those are almost exclusively 'conservatives' these days. Funny how few of them actually follow the principles set down by Jesus.

Since when is the GOP the 'entire right'? Check out the Lincoln Project. There are a LOT of conservatives that want to see the GOP go away. OTOH, there are a lot of conservatives that want ANYONE THAT DISAGREES WITH THEM to 'disappear'. To be 'eliminated'.