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Sexual immorality is just a construct. The only immorality would be if someone is taking advantage of a child or a person otherwise not able to give informed consent. Homosexual sex is not immoral. Men entering the priesthood then using the posistion of trust to take advantage of children is immoral. Likewise it is not immoral for a boy or a girl to feel they don't fit your expectations of their sexuality. It is a struggle, and it may be very difficult for them, but it is not immoral.

I get all my power from solar. California now goes hours getting all its power from renewables for weeks on end - and all that is time we are not burning natural gas, thus saving that gas for the less developed parts of the US. As a result, natural gas prices are dropping, and air quality is improving. Solar fabrication equipment is one of the few things we export to China. US companies that make solar equipment are making billions and employing hundreds of thousands. So the citizens of the US will - and are already - benefiting from this. Jealousy is such an ugly emotion. Become a scientist or engineer, discover/invent something important and you too can be a millionaire! Only in your imagination. I am perfectly happy for you to think I am stupid. Like George Santos calling someone dishonest, or like Trump calling someone a liar. It's more a badge of honor than anything else.

Comparing political figures to Hitler has a long and ignominious history in the US, and has been overused so much that there's actually an Internet law about it; Godwin's Law states that if an online discussion goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will make a comparison to Hitler. Earlier, the philospher Leo Strauss had spoken of a very similar logical fallacy: reductio ad Hitlerum. The problem, of course, is that that means that if there IS a politician that proposes (for example) to exterminate a race of people, and people compare them validly to Hitler, no one takes any note of that. Just another Godwin attack. Comparisons of Trump to Hitler initially fell afoul of Godwin's law, because there really wasn't much similarity between a mealy-mouthed reality TV star and Hitler. Just another Godwin violation! Trump was something of a joke anyway. But lately the parallels have been getting scarier, and none other than Mike Godwin has written editorials stating "this time the comparison is valid." I just listened to an interview with Timothy Ryback, author of "Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power." Ryback is an historian, and he wrote this book not by going through historical records, but by reading contemporary accounts of the time (newspapers, meeting minutes, pamphlets) so he could get a better sense of how this happened from the perspective of the people living through that time. He never mentions Trump in the book. But the parallels are astounding. While Hitler was building his power, he regularly used Polish immigrants (who were pouring across the border due to unrest in Poland) as a scare tactic. During this time, two Germans brutally tortured and murdered a few Polish immigrants; the Germans were sentenced to death for their crimes. Hitler decried that, and stated that if he were elected "never would a foreign life be put above a German" again. He made up bizarre stories to enrage and infuriate his party. He claimed that German children were being sold as sex slaves to foreign countries, and claimed that this was required by the Treaty of Versailles. (Pizza had not been invented yet, so no pizza places were involved.) His stated goal with this sort of disinformation was to "hollow out the middle" - remove the moderates and drive them to one of the two camps, so that he could frame his quest for power as a choice between only two options. Hitler regularly vowed to destroy democracy through democracy; he promised to use the mechanisms of democracy to destroy the right of the people to govern. He planned to give himself more power if he was appointed chancellor. He was very open about this, but the German people assumed he was just making speeches. "The soup is hotter during the cooking than during the eating" was a popular German phrase, indicating they thought that Hitler would calm down once he was in power. It is noteworthy that he almost didn't make it to the Chancellorship. Due to his profligate spending and his lack of respect for the law, he was often in court in the years leading up to his chancellorship. He didn't mind this; he used the courtroom as a pulpit, and one of his fellow Nazis once said that every time Hitler went to court he got another 1000 votes. The justice system was closing in on him, for his crimes, his unpaid debts and for his refusal to pay taxes. His only chance to avoid jail was to do what he did - become chancellor and suspend civil rights and the justice system. His campaign was based largely on vengeance - against the Treaty of Versailles, against the Communists, against Hindenberg and his other perceived enemies. Even his own people became enemies once they crossed him, or told him that maybe perhaps he was being a little racist. "Once I'm in power, heads will roll," he told several of his supporters. And roll they did. Hitler could not get any support with just the Nationalist party behind him, so he allied with the Socialists (and specifically with socialist leader Gregor Strasser) to get a larger percentage of the electorate. Even with that, the best he ever did was 37% of the vote. He publicly supported the Socialists but privately detested them. Strasser was a big socialist - an anti-capitalist polemic of his caused Hitler to repudiate him at the 1926 Bamberg Conference. He was briefly elected to the vice-chancellor position while Hitler was rising to power, but retired when he could no longer stomach the changing Nazi goals. Then, in 1934, Hitler had Strasser arrested and executed for being a socialist. He could not do this alone, of course. Maintaining his bizarre claims of sex slavery and victimhood required a media apparatus. And that came in the form of Alfred Hugenberg, a media mogul who had his sights on world domination as well. At first Hugenberg and Hitler couldn't stand each other, but once Hugenberg realized that Hitler was rising in power, he allied himself with him. At that point Hugenberg owned the Scherl publishing house, the news agency Telegraphen-Union, several newspapers and the Universum-Film-AG (Ufa), a major film producer. This let him churn out not only news about the evil Polish immigrants and the child sex slavery thing, but also publish glowing articles about "Hitler at home" "Hitler with children" and most importantly "Hitler as a victim of the evil Europeans." This went a long way towards steering public perception about Hitler. Hitler took every opportunity to "gum up the works" of government when he could through his position as one of the leaders of the Nazi party. The worst provisions of the Versailles Treaty were due to end in two years, and there was a movement to delay the passage of new laws until that time, so that they would be passed in a less reactionary environment. Hitler did everything he could to push as many new laws through as possible, often with conflicting goals that he could then use them to show how dysfunctional government was. The Nazi party, according to Ryback, thrived on political chaos and economic despair, and worked hard to provide that environment. The president at the time - Otto Hindenberg - was elderly, and Hitler's media apparatus spent quite a bit of time attacking him for being senile, doddering, and sleepy. Hitler could not attack him directly since he still needed his support. A month after he was appointed Chancellor, there was a fire at the Reichstag, the seat of government for Germany at the time. When police arrived, they found Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist, leaving the building. The fire chief, however, saw Nazis fleeing the fire, and found evidence that they had in fact started the fire. The fire chief was then arrested and assassinated by the Gestapo. Hitler used this "attack by the Communists" to issue the Fire Decree which suspended civil liberties in Germany and allowed Hitler to start eliminating his political opposition. And of course there are the growing similarities in their speeches. Trump speaks of "poisoning the blood" of America with immigrants; Hitler spoke of "The rats that poison our body-politic gnaw from the hearts and memories of the broad masses" and that "this poison was allowed to enter the national bloodstream and infect public life without the Government taking any effectual measures to master the course of the disease." Trump talks about how "we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country" - and Hitler said he "the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin." Trump: "The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within." Hitler: "Never in our history have we been conquered by the strength of our outside enemies but only through our own failings and the enemy in our own camp." Finally, in a speech in 1940, Hitler said that the various German political factions could be "blended into one strong new idea to carry new strength which would make Germany great again." It's not funny any more.

“A man came up to me - big man, strong man - with tears in his eyes”…..

No shit, Sherlock. That’s the problem not the potential or viability of renewables. By that logic why fight crime at home when Haiti is so ridden with theft, drugs, and murder?

1) He didn't fart 2) OK he farted but there's this explanation that it's not like regular gross farting 3) Obama did it first.

Some more fake electors just Found Out: NBC News: Trump’s 2020 'fake electors' charged with state crimes in Arizona The indictments follow an investigation led by Arizona ETA: WaPo reporting Meadows & Giuliani also indicted.

They just can not avoid thinking about it because their interest isn't moral it's prurient. Often it's as simple as anger over others doing openly what they either secretly desire or merely have very natural curiosities or occasional wonderings. Like reformed smokers they incessantly proselytize against the behaviors as a way to keep the ideas, and pictures, fresh in mind. By claiming their interest is faith based they can avoid uncomfortable questions about their strange concerns. Of course, if the urges become uncontrollable there are always a spare set or two of vestments to don for additional camouflage.

I've been trying hard for a couple of days and could not sell any of my cast iron. Guess that's not for me either. Wait . . . you said OnlyFans. Damn, I was trying OnlyPans.

ODOR IN THE COURT!

Is it? Particularly at smaller seasonal dropzones across the country? I really have no interest in freeflying or angles or tracking jumps. I'm unlikely to ever want to get into wingsuiting. I don't want to just go out and screw around playing freefall games or flying through hulahoops. I just want to find a few people who want to dedicate two or three weekends a month to turning some points, debriefing the video, and then doing it again to try to improve as a group. Apparently that just isn't what most people think of as fun anymore.

All good on this, it's a good discussion. It's hard putting it all back together 50+ years later. It just comes down to whether or not he made an amateur type of mistake. If so, that could be used as part of the profile when looking at a particular suspect. Anyway, here is the latest from Dr. Edwards....he's on the hunt for those Air America jumpers: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/24695578-d-b-cooper-and-flight-305-last-name-unknown

Perhaps read his reply again, and see if you can figure out what rhetorical device he was using there.

You only need 3 like-minded people. Maybe find people who are thinking of taking an AFF instructor course. It's good practice for them.

At our small Cessna DZ we still do 4 way. But our average age is quite high and the younger jumpers we do have are not really very interested in it. Not yet dead but definitely dying.

Brent acknowledging reality, not happening

Easier to toot the horn than to step on the accelerator. Apparently those just fall off.

Yeah, the fact that there are only roughly 50 when 35 years ago there were 350 is irrelevant. And if I gain enough weight to be obese, but not super-obese, that means I'm not fat, right? Wendy P.

I know Dan Cooper’s “grudge” - he had $200,000 less than he desired. The whole lay-offs thing, the “grudge” is too deeply read. It was a financially motivated crime. Darren had a lady on his podcast saying that he did it to show it could be done. If so, why not ask for a Mickey Mantle Baseball Card and four parachutes. Or a Monet and four parachutes. Both easier to transport. The guy was a greedy MF who wanted money. I like the whole CIA/Interpen Goon angle. I really do, but it’s what makes a better story and fiction can be more enjoyable than the fact that a lone middle aged man wanted money, got it, and was so unremarkable that he had nobody to tell or wasn’t missed if he slammed into the ground or took a swim.

No one predicts past events like BH.

Skydiving first started at the Ovid Airport, D82, in August 1967. The original Parachute Jumping Center License from the New York State Department of Commerce Bureau of Aviation is hanging on the wall at manifest. The DZ moved to Seneca Falls, N.Y. in April 1972. I opened Finger Lakes Skydivers DZ in Ovid in May 1982 and operated until November 2015. The business was sold and new operators began in April 2016 under the name Skydive Finger Lakes. The business was sold again and the next operators took over in April 2018 and operated through October 2021. They sold their aircraft and moved out of the area. There was no skydiving business operation during the 2022 and 2023 skydiving season. There was occasional skydiving by invitation only for experienced jumpers during those summers. A completely new skydiving operation, Skydive Seneca Lake, skydivesenecalake.com, will begin on April 25, 2024 with a Cessna TU-206 and a C-182. They are in no way associated with any of the past operations. I purchased the Ovid Airport in 1989, it has a 2800 X 40 paved runway and 2200 X 60 turf runway, 20+ acres of landing area, heated and air conditioned clubhouse with kitchen, lounge, restrooms with showers, and indoor packing area. It is locate in the center of the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. You can see 7 of the finger lakes from jump altitude plus Lake Ontario and on a clear day you can see Canada. John King

Not only were there pizzas, but basements were also in existence. So Hitler's opponents could have been doing those nasty things after all.

I can't believe Al Capone didn't use that one! "You can't jail me, Your Honor. I have to keep running this crime syndicate just to afford my legal bills!"

well that only took 4 years..... it would appear that the entire justice system is designed to be an enabler for crimes.....

Well then, I'm no longer concerned that you may have meant nibbling. Which would have puzzled me greatly.

Who needs brothels when you can just become a star. "When you are a star they let you do anything". (Video available on request.)

Or . . . . not.

The jetliner landed at 5:41. Tina retrieves the money and parachutes between 5:50 and 6:10. All passengers are off the aircraft by 5:57 Alice and Flo depart the aircraft at 6:44. The plane departed at 7:36. Based on this timeline, the pilots and Alice and Flo could have escaped the cockpit while Tina was on and off the aircraft getting the money and chutes during the time period of 5:57 and ~6:10. In fact, I think in a later interview, Rataczak laments this fact. https://norjak.org/timeline/

There's something called the Cloud Games, where newbie 4-way teams (with a ringer) compete at their own drop zones, using the video to compare times etc. It's one way -- yes, it means competition, but newbie teams are pretty laid back. Wendy P.

patently false. Solar is still being built at record rates across the country. wind installations are happening in dozens of states.

Well, the grown ups included quite a few GOP representatives. Looks like Johnson has figured out where the adults are to be found. And it's not in the "Freedom Caucus".

Gossip vs factual news ... the Moon could be cheese. Familiarity breeds contempt, or just sloppy reporting ? Geoffrey Gray now lives in Mexico and Galen is coming back - never left. Jo Weber was amazing and LD was an early suspect! 'Dorey' took over the case from Himmelsbach - Himms charged too much for his interviews and he lived in a palace (his wife had money). There is more ..... stay tuned! Galen is coming back . . . Jo Weber had connections nobody else had . . . there is probably plastic in your heart valves and arteries and brain .. . if you remote view Jo Weber's dreams backwards you will know everything about the DB Cooper case including all FBI 302s. Oh! And Galen is coming back . . .

Trump?!?!?! Is that you?

Well, if you hold em down you can CLAIM you are taller! And who's going to argue? Certainly not that guy who can't get up.

Yes, I really, really don't like that narrative for the hijacking. It's especially nonsensical because the government did NOT want to be paying for airline security. The government wanted it to be the responsibility of the individual airlines to pay for additional security measures. So, saying the deep state was involved is silly to me because they had no incentive. This was a clever bank robbery, that's all. That said, I think there is a very, very real possibility that Cooper was CIA adjacent at some point in his life, likely through Air America. He fits the mold very well of their middle aged renegade pilots who flew in Vietnam. As I said in the show, I came across a news article from 1972 where a guy said the average age of Air America pilots was 43 years old. These guys were mercenaries. They risked their lives for profit. So, Cooper would have been used to this sort of dangerous game. The fact that Air America dropped men and material out of 727's with 15 degree flaps and gear down is almost too coincidental to believe.

My first thought was the petrodollar. One of many problems I have with fossil fuels is that they are, by their very nature, finite. I agree that the people who want to 'simply' replace fossil fuels with sunshine and unicorn farts tend to be weak on the thermodynamics of scale involved, but that does not mean we can continue indefinitely down the road of plentiful and cheap fossil fuels shoring up our way of life. The point that the video missed is that the ROI on natural gas is only good until you use it up. Quite when is that point can vary as a function of efficiency and sundry wild cards, but that point is coming sooner than later. You may as well get in another few skydives and tear around in exquisite Italian cars and whatnot, because it will only slightly affect when the inevitable comes to pass. No long term gain from missing out. BTW, Lamborghinis are best rented, so the owner is stuck with it when the fuel pump runs dry. BSBD, Winsor

This is the lie, solar panels are getting a LOT more reliable. Some of the newest ones are rated for 40 to 50 years: https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2017/failures-pv-panels-degradation.html The battery lifespan is also a lie - the 10 years usually quoted is for the number of cycles for batteries to reach 80% of their rated capacity. You're talking as if they suddenly go to zero. The lithium in them is extremely valuable, this is another silly argument. If you replace your car's catalytic converter, do you dump it, platinum and all, in a landfill? Most batteries are easily recycled.

Always enjoy Bruce, as well as these videos you are doing Ryan. I just find the narrative that the CIA/Deep State had to orchestrate this DB Copper Hijacking for the sole purpose to get more air port security a little silly, i.e. metal detectors in air ports or requiring more information from passengers to fly. Why on earth would they need to do this ? There were already so many hijackings, wouldn't those already be enough reason ? The government enacts laws and strong arms private industry all the time without the need for covert operations as trigger point.

If only we had more like Jared Moskowitz! Raw Story: House Dem files bill to make Marjorie Taylor Greene Putin's 'special envoy' to Congress

Agreed. They are important to allow rapid action by the executive branch, but are used too often for issues that are better legislated.

This is a link to a Go Fund Me account being set up for a re-scan of tie particles. Through Tom's goodwill and McCrone Labs' interest in the case, McCrone has agreed to do a re-scan of one of the tie stubs for only $500, which is essentially at cost for microscope time. We are setting up the account for up to $1,500 for the possibility (no guarantees) that McCrone might agree to re-scan an 2 additional stubs in the future at the same cost. A re-scan would provide x-y coordinates with a true "north south" orientation that would allow Tom to look at specific particles of interest more easily and definitively. Thank you for your consideration. update: McCrone has agreed to run a total of four stubs for us at $500 each. https://gofund.me/7a65d011

One of the original Herd members and instrumental in bringing big planes to the United Parachute Club. Also organized the annual Herd boogie.

How about for a second you resist your impulse to take cheap shots at them for being trans sex workers, and process the larger message of the story: climate change is going to have the biggest affect on those with the fewest resources. I can grumble that insurance raised our deductible for a roof replacement due to local hail damage, or comment on the road I rode the school bus on every day as a kid has washed out 3 times in the past year due to storms larger than anybody in the area ever remembers seeing...shit that inconveniences or concerns me, but doesn't do much more right now. People who have zero financial buffer and are living in particularly affected areas are going to be hit the hardest. That's going to include Thai trans sex workers and many others living hand to mouth. You could show a bit of empathy, or at minimum keep your mouth shut and count your blessings for having the sheer dumb luck of being born a white dude in North America....or, you could have a chuckle 'cause they wear dresses but were born with penises.

The first prototype that will be used by someone other than me :) I've pretty much settled on hardware configuration. There's still some space for optimization (like size for example) but that shouldn't affect the codebase too much. ENGO 2 indeed pretty good for this purpose. Although there was no SDK for ESP32, I was able to write some basic implementation using the documentation available. Still there's a lot of work to be done. In the sort term: * Complete "Competition mode' - UI tweaks, navigation, score computation * Implement data input - home DZ coordinates, altitude offset, target coordinates for competition, etc. * Stability overhaul In the long run it'd be good to have some smartphone app to manage all the settings, as well as create custom screen layouts, but there's still long road ahead

Finally finished AFF! Thanks guys!

Great party, lot of old faces and good times.

Hi Steve, Celebrate like crazy as that is my birthday. JerryBaumchen PS) And for those that might care: It is the Air Force birthday also.

The first DZ to use a Twin Otter was Pepperell, MA, in April 1972. Mark Schmidt, D-21, was the pilot. It was written up in Parachutist a few months later. If you don't believe this, I'll sic Ted Strong D-16 on you. He was a co-owner of the DZ. HW