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Hunter Biden is a long time drug addict. He’s probably done more crime that can be uncovered. Crime that, if he were a normal white collar white guy, would never be uncovered or would be treated as a slap on the wrist at best. But hey, let us know how happy you’d be if the Sheriff in your town started following you around and delving into every aspect of your life for just because he didn’t like you. Shouldn’t be any problem, right? If you’re innocent you’ve got nothing to hide.

The Japanese that we put in prison camps were a miniscule percentage of our population. Doesn't make that OK. Gay people are a small part of the population. Still, laws that made being gay illegal were wrong. Black people were a small (not miniscule) part of our population in 1860. Didn't make slavery OK. Didn't make separate water fountains OK. Didn't make white-only schools OK. Although a LOT of bigots used that exact argument - "they have rights! Just different rights. There aren't that many of them anyway." If your argument is "as long as most people have rights that's fine" then you do not support rights - you support privilege.

Turns out dragging knuckles and understanding humour are mutually exclusive.

Finally a concise definition of what 'woke' is - pronouns on social media. Seems like such a petty thing to get so worked up about, but whatever floats your boat.

Well sure, Brent really doesn’t want to talk about Syria. What’s he going to say about the fact that Trump hand picked an Assad supporter for Intelligence Director? What’s he going to say about the fact that Assad was toppled because Putin was busy having his military destroyed in Ukraine - a war that Trump is determined to let him win as soon as he can? Changing the subject is really the only option for a good little MAGA follower right now.

Richravizza, I heard. There are some planned changes, disabling spell check for example, but otherwise no worries.

Because Republicans stand for nothing but being vindictive. The only thing you enjoy is hurting people.

It was really interesting to see the recent spate of news about the opposition making gains in Syria last week. Amazing to hear the news about Assad. It's easy to celebrate these milestones (and we should), but we should still be very concerned about what's next. ISIS could decide to make a power play, the forces in power could totally fail to deliver public services, or someone else could simply step up with his own brand of authoritarianism as just a different kind of "bad" for Syria. I'm not sure we should be a part of the re-building of institutions and democracy, considering our penchant for "getting ahead of our skis" when we start out trying to do the right thing. But I certainly think we should support our allies stepping in to assist in the process. The earlier a new government can get off the ground, the better the whole region will be.

History shows us it's normal and natural.

it would be appropriate if one or more threads devolved in to DB cooper threads for the rest of the life of this site. DB Cooper forever.

Hi Bill, They are normally bullies. Bullies, who deep down inside are true cowards. Like a certain mango-haired person who is in the news a lot these days. Jerry Baumchen

Get with it man. Trump has vowed retribution and you well know it. Why give him the chance, especially with his son? I say Biden should extensively pardon anyone Trump might go after just to take the wind from his sails and maybe he'll get on with governance instead.

Nope. There's simply a new enemy - the pet eating, violent, drug-carrying, raping illegal immigrants. There is a certain sort of person who simply responds well to having an enemy they can denigrate; it makes them feel better about themselves. "People say I'm dumb, but did you hear about the polack who . . ." "Sure I've had my problems, but I'm not a criminal freeloader illegal!"

The important thing here is, which bathroom do they use? Because we gotta ban that shit. Because kids! Those things we tolerate the mass murder of, but we truly value their bathroom experiences.

He was trying to say, "whoosh".

Like EV subsidies and tax breaks? Don't think President Musk is going to allow that.

If a speeding car runs over a serial killer I'd say there was a certain positive outcome in an unfortunate event. Amazing to me is that a beret wearing member of team ends justifies the means wouldn't agree.

Well, there is certainly some incentive for him to skip over posts that answer his question, if his goal is to be outraged that no one answered his question.

I see them on email signatures, website profiles, job sites and resume's, doctor's office forms, hospital forms, legal documents....they're still living. I expect they will survive the hatred of MAGATs.

I also think about Tonto, whenever I come on dz.com Wendy P.

Score one for Biden.

Because the incoming United States President is a vindictive piece of shit who is obviously weaponizing the justice department to go after his perceived enemies. Next time take the different colored pill.

This old same ole, same ole arguing with no real goal is going to go on until the site gets bone yarded. I just hope that there is some sort of accessible archive for all the history of skydiving documented here.

Why would anyone need a pardon? One can only pardon a crime that has been committed , not one that has not. Wait a second, oh I get it. If Team Blue commits a felony it is ok but if Team Red wants to hold them to account it is an abomination.

A: Because Trump has promised to go after him with every tool in his arsenal, legal and extralegal. And good parents protect their children from violent criminals.

The Smith Act, same as McCarthy. Google it. I "pardoned" you - revoked your ban for Christmas. But if that offends you, just let me know and I'll reinstate you. OTOH this puts you in the same boat as Hunter - he never asked for one either. Like Trump, he was a democrat. Like Trump, he became a republican in order to attack liberals. You're a great example of why Trump loves the poorly educated - easy to deceive.

Joe McCarthy (of McCarthyism) was a Republican. Eugene McCarthy was a Democrat. Two rather different people Wendy P.

And yet Trump has vowed to prosecute them for just that. Of course, that's not what it will be called. It will be called anti-American activities or some similar rationalization. McCarthy was especially good at this. Republicans would not know this, of course, not being students of . . . anything, really. Meanwhile, tell us why you deserved a "pardon."

He’s just pissed that he has to suffer consequences for free speech. If, when I was younger, I’d said “hey baby” to some random guy and was attacked, plenty of people would think I had it coming. That’s consequences. If my brothers then beat him up, that’s consequences. If the woman actually has power to do something — well that’s not fair! Wendy P.

Because a criminal has vowed to take revenge on them.

*nigh

You’re ignoring the constant and repeated threats from the incoming administration. The Felon in Chief is out for retribution.

Medicare and the VA system are both examples of single-payer health coverage. They're both funded by the federal government. Single Payer and Universal Healthcare can be somewhat conflated. The single payer means there's just a single entity paying for medical care for some. Universal Healthcare - means that ALL Americans have coverage, whether through public or private systems, or both. So, before you get too snarky, the goal is NOT single payer for some, but universal care for all. I'm thinking you don't get Universal Healthcare. Or. is that not your goal.

hi winsor, Re: The only person DB Cooper killed was himself. Not one shred of proof of this. I do not believe the FBI hype that he is dead. I think that I am the only person here who was 'interviewed' by the FBI back then. They had not a clue then; and, they have not one today. Jerry Baumchen

Half joking. We’d have them by the short and curlies and best of luck to Trump unwinding it in time to make Putin happy.

I hope you are joking. I think the new powers that be will soon be uninviting their Russian guests. No need for intervention.

The problem is all the suppression and hatred being thrown at this small group. If they are so small and unimportant why are so many laws being aimed against them?

Perfect. Now, while the getting is good, let's drop the 82nd Airborne onto Damascus International Airport and the 101st onto Al-Nasiriyah Military Airbase to help keep security in these trying times and to protect our 900 troops there from another Afghanistan debacle. Then sit back and watch how the Russians come to grips with the United States controlling the nation with their only warm water port accessing the Mediterranean: Tartus.

And if it shines a bright light on insurance industry cockroaches , their lobbyists, and the bastard republicans in Congress who keep America saddled with shit insurance then good. Medicare for all, it works.

Hi John, Now, the question is: Where did he go? One option seems to be Iran. They said this: Iran . . . made unverifiable claims that rebels had attacked its embassy in Damascus How could they attack another country's embassy; that is completely against international law. Oh, the horror. Jerry Baumchen PS) Something about You reap what you sow. PPS) An update: Assad is in Moscow after fleeing Syria and will be given asylum, Russian state media report - BBC News

So every woman over the age of 50 or thereabouts becomes a man? Interesting, I'll tell my wife.

The guy who thinks they are "suckers" and "losers?" They are getting exactly what they voted for.

Hi Bill, Re: Once Trump's tariffs go into force, and inflation starts ticking up - who will conservatives blame? It was the summer of '83. The Reagan Recession was in full swing. The local tv news station did a story on all of the people, here in Oregon, who were out of work & complaining about. The local tv news commentator, Floyd McCay [ a brilliant guy BTW ], came on, and said, 'Why are they complaining? This is exactly what Reagan said he would do.' Let's see how things look in the summer of 2027. Then) who will conservatives blame? Jerry Baumchen

Definitely cult like. Also the US is now well and truly established as a corrupt nation. It’s going to be interesting to see the EU response over time as they generally have quite high standards on dealing with corruption.

Unfortunately, winsor won’t be able to appreciate that description, as he doesn’t see color

Thanks for the 23 years of great memories and experiences from the time I have been on this site! I had to look to see my registration date and it was way back in 2001 - That alone was half a lifetime ago. This site was a huge part of my life for a long time and is how I met my wife, some of my best friends and introduced me to a wide group of people that I have had the pleasure of sharing some of the best and worst experiences ever. I remember some of the Perris, Raeford, SDC Summerfest and WFFC DZ.com events as highlights. I kept missing some of the Christmas Skydive Arizona events and had huge cases of FOMO at the time when we saw the post event stories. I still have photos from one of the Dropzone load at Perris with @billvon and @wmw999 hanging on my wall that everyone asks about all the time. Learning to wingsuit with @SkymonkeyONE back when a Birdman GTi was considered "advanced", heading to TX and doing CRW with @faulknerwn, heading to FL sleeping in my car to be able to hang out and jump with multiple DZ.commers over the holiday breaks. I spent the better part of 5-8 years traveling around meeting up with a huge list of posters like @sunshine, @jerm, @wingnut, @skymama, and dozens of others. I can't forget all the drama that came from the drunk dial list and of course all the arguments that came out of stepping up to moderate. Running the incidents forum and database taught me a huge level of respect for my own limits since in the back my mind while at the DZ as the list of all the situations that I had spent hours reviewing, documenting and then watching others start making the start of the same series of decisions. I stepped away for a while since I was off doing other things but the time here shaped a large part of my life. PS if anyone can tell me how to mass backup my PM's it would be awesome!

My interpretation of so many skydiving competition disciplines is that young jumpers look at the 10,000 jumps required to join Arizona Airspeed, and they decide that it is simpler to invent a new sky sport. Early (1920s) precision landing competitors were happy if they landed in the correct field. Then they added precisely defined targets which eventually evolved into the modern electronic "discs." Competitors responded by getting more and more precise. Now if you miss the "disc" on your first jump, you just go home in disgrace. Then came "style": solo maneuvers ... then "relative work" (group formation) in freefall on their bellies .... then sit-flying .......... Then sky-surfing .... then solo free-fly (see Dale ...) ... once square parachutes were perfected, they invented canopy relative work (canopy formations) ........... speed stacks ........... canopy rotations ............ para-batics .............. blade-running ............ flat-land slalom under canopy .......... pond-swooping ........... distance under canopy ............... The list is never-ending. Next thing you know the FAI has written rules for competition and a few years later you need 8,000 jumps to compete seriously at the world meet, so youngsters find it easier to invent another new sky sport. Not every young skydiver is a fiercely competitive team member. Some of them just want to play grab-ass with their friends on the weekend.

2002 January I joined Love this place will miss it bid time

Wow thanks Seth. When trying to post something concise about a complex subject, that really concentrates the mind and forces one to carefully weigh all the factors. Whether or not someone else finds it useful, it does help one's own understanding. 22 years here for me. Highlights for me have been all the technical discussions, and some about old time skydiving & gear. And all in a forum with a better interface for finding things, avoiding endless scrolling, compared to facebook or even reddit. (Even if dz also had its formatting issues, losing the old photos, etc.) Looking at posts from way back, one comes across so many names one has almost forgotten about, regular & useful posters from some particular era - I don't think I can single out just a few individuals. Too bad about all the English language forums disappearing. The Australian one disappeared, the UK one disappeared, soon this one. Funniest moment: Newbie sees someone write about reaching for grips in RW. Newbie takes it out of contest and slams the guy, telling him you should know one should NEVER reach for grips. ....The guy he criticized was a >10,000 jump Airspeed RW team member.

I just passed 19 years as a member of this site. Mostly just lurking; I used to be perversely proud I had more jumps than posts, but that is no longer true. I want to thank @wolfriverjoe and @pchapman and @davelepka and @diverdriver (latter two long gone I assume) for being such good resources, level headed, thorough, and mostly dispassionate in their advice and analysis. (dave could get wound up, but still for many years was a great source of information). I learned so much here.