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Every time I see a chart like this I wonder about a couple of things: 1. The chart shows total migrant arrivals, which lumps together legal and "illegal" arrivals. As far as the Trump administration and its supporters are concerned there is no real distinction, they seem to hate everybody who wants to come to this country (with the possible exception of white Europeans especially from Norway). However it is perfectly legal to present yourself at a border crossing and ask for asylum. Your petition will be adjudicated and a decision made, but no laws have been broken just by asking for asylum. 2. The Biden administration (really, Biden personally) is being blamed for people trying to come to the US. What power does any administration have to force people to stay home and not try to come here? Does the US have police powers in Guatemala (as an example)? Do we run the military in Mexico? How, exactly, is Biden supposed to intercept people and turn them back before they reach US soil? Would it not be more effective to figure out why so many people are fleeing their homes to come to a distant country? Few people leave home on a whim, just for a change of scenery. The journey is incredibly dangerous, and they are not at all assured of success. They are fleeing out-of-control gang violence, largely fueled by American demand for narcotics. They are fleeing corrupt and violent military regimes, many with a history of being supported by the US. They are fleeing starvation brought on by natural disasters, such as a series of hurricanes that struck Central America and destroyed their food production several years in a row. If you and your family were facing starvation and being constantly threatened and robbed by gangs, and your own government and police were powerless to help, who would not try to run to safety? But, when Biden (or Obama before that) proposes to spend money to try to help deal with those problems so people will be able to stay home, all we hear from politicians catering to the Trump base is "America First" and complaining about spending money on other countries. When I hear the rhetoric from many conservatives I have to believe that they would force people back into a burning building rather that allow them to break curfew. I'm reminded of the M.S. St. Louis, a ship carrying 900 Jewish passengers trying to flee from Nazi Germany in 1939. The ship was refused permission to dock, first in Cuba, then in the US, and finally in Canada before being forced to return to Germany, where over 1/3 of the passengers ultimately died in concentration camps. Disclosure: I am an immigrant to the US. I came here legally. The process took a long time, it was not particularly pleasant (the "system" assumes you are a terrorist or a criminal it seems), and it was very expensive. I was able to do that because I came from a non-shithole country (Canada), I am educated (PhD), and it probably did not hurt that I am white and I speak English.

Wouldn't it be great if education levels were more important than survival rates.

That's like some of the most interesting history rewriting I've seen. Lynchings were waning before the Civil Rights Act -- the publicity around the Emmett Till lynching was part of that, with his mother's willingness to share the impact. Mass communications had a fair amount to do with it. I rather doubt that arming African Americans would have resulted in fewer lynchings before they started to wane on their own. Truthiness is what confirms one's belief. Truth is what challenges it -- sometimes causing beliefs to be changed, sometimes not. Just because you really, really, think something, and can search and find evidence for it, doesn't make it true. Evidence that doesn't confirm one's beliefs is just as much evidence as that which does. Wendy P.

Since 100% of school shootings are done with guns, eliminating guns would end 100% of them.

There are extremes to wokeness as there are extremes to everything, including empathy, which is really what wokeness is for most people even if they aren't aware. Given the whirling panorama of absurdities that comprises so much of our view these days, I'm thinking that lathering on a little extra empathy sometimes may not be such a bad thing.

Not necessarily. I came up during the static line era, and after a bad jump on my second, I was utterly practically vomitingly terrified on the next few. For me, it took making my first freefall — it was like a key had turned, and the door was opened. Maybe make a jump with no real goals other than feeling like you’re the one in control. With no new skills, the only new skill being mastering how you feel on the way out. Talk to an instructor and feel free to be honest about why you want to do this — you’re not the first person like you. Honest Then, if you decide skydiving isn’t for you, it’s a decision, and not something you were forced into Wendy P.

Teachers' job is to teach - not act like Rambo in case of a school shooting. In Parkland, a guard whose job WAS to shoot the gunman, didn't do it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48521988 In Uvalde, the police whose JOB was to stop the gunman, also didn't. https://www.nytimes.com/article/uvalde-texas-school-shooting.html So these people were PAID to stop gunmen and still did a terrible job. How much better will underpaid, overstressed, undertrained teachers perform these feats of law enforcement?

Yet it seems to work around the rest of the western world. Logic would dictate that similar solutions would also work in the US. Might just take some time.

The actual facts are that Georger and I worked very closely for about a year in the 2010 time frame. Then he went ballistic and that ended that. In 2010, I had to point out to Georger that North was usually at the top of a map. Now he is an expert and pontificating on the subject.

The people who conducted the test flight AND worked with the FBI on the Cooper case. Read every word I posted. A separate group of named people processed the radar data and plotted a flight path: quote: "The flight path coordinates were calculated from data tape recorded at the McChord Air Defense Command Direction Center (DC). The calculation and the plotting were almost certainly done by the McChord Detachment of the 84th Radar Evaluation Squadron (RADES). It was their job to do such analyses, and the DC were just users of the system. The FBI was provided a copy of the plotted flight path." As for R99, he has been made aware of this for years and has sat on his ass and done nothing! He prefers his own agenda. Its a total mystery to me how or why WSHM did not develop this further, if they could have. Maybe they were done with their project by the time this information was being developed ? I have no idea ...

Meanwhile in Colorado: State Sen. Kevin Priola switches his party registration to Democrat from Republican, citing 2020 election conspiracies We need more of this.

The original Sabre can be packed to open comfortably. My wife and daughter jumped 135's without hard openings. Contact PD. They can provide some guidance.

Well practically the entire country here is a "gun free zone"...it's good. I highly recommend it.

Try to find a psychological coach to help you get through your fear. May I suggest the book "Transcending Fear" written by Brian Germain? Brian has also published several www.youtube.com videos about psychological training for skydiving.

“The FBI moved on him like a bitch. When you have probable cause, they let you do it. You can do anything. YOU CAN GRAB ‘EM BY THE EVIDENCE!” - Author Unknown

Good point. Please fix it.

The map is data, it is the points plotted by the Air Force using GEOREF.. Why doesn't it jive,,, you can always find some doubt in everything but you need actual evidence to dispute it.. Eric has no actual evidence, he relies on conjecture, exxagerates it to claim it as fact, then builds more conjecture on that pseudo-fact. That is his history and MO... Eric's claims always need to be triple checked. It all jives to me, if there is actual evidence that it doesn't beyond weak conjecture I haven't seen it. Claiming it was all a coverup doesn't cut it. You had too many people, too many organizations and too many resources involved, North West Airlines, the Air Force radar, SAGE, the Air Force pilots, NORJAK pilots, ATC, the FBI... then they did the massive search based on the flight path. Flight path is solid, not sure exactly why they chose that route but they did and were discussing several other refuelling spots in California prior. So, down to California and dog leg over. The FBI files say Cooper agreed to that route... maybe it is just that simple.

Bruce Smith discovered that during an interview with somebody close to the situation ... was an interesting interview. But think about it. Plane with bomb over a populated civilian area ? I wouldnt hesitate to press the button if call on ...

I was a horrible freefall student but kept at it and have over 12000 jumps now. I am an AFF instructor who just a couple weeks ago had a student go fetal for the first couple thousand feet but recovered. She now has passed all of the AFF levels and is moving on. Do not let one jump stop you. My student Logbook

Winsor, I think Woke is as much as anything about respect. Sometimes it's about bowing backwards to show respect, out of a feeling that respect was inadequately shown in the past. I see that as sometimes misguided when pushed too far, or when respect is demanded (especially when it's demanded for a third party), but it's still rather different from the demanding of respect for one's self of the "I define America's ethos and culture" crowd. Wendy P.

Cooper definitely planned a night jump, Sunset at 4:32 PM Portland.. Notice wind was light and SE at 7:00 PM (Portland Airport) but it was shifting around 8:00 PM to S and SW.. No precise wind data at 8:12.. Initially the "FBI" assumed a SW wind for Cooper's jump but it could have been between SE and SW.. they did revise the search area assuming a more Southerly wind.. Overcast, showers of light rain.

Oh, evolution as a theory and a process is pretty solid. What's happened with people is that any real 'evolutionary pressure' has been removed. For maybe 100 years, we (as a society as a whole) have made survival of everyone a priority and a goal (minus a few genocides here & there). So 'survival of the fittest' or 'survival of the strongest' or 'survival of the most adaptable' (all three of which are important in evolution) hasn't been an issue. So the unfit, the weak and those unwilling or unable to adapt to change have survived things that historically would have removed them from the gene pool (personally, I survived pneumonia as a kid and appendicitis - both of which would likely have killed me 150 or 200 years ago). Then, along comes Covid. We find out it attacks the weak. It attacks the stupid. It attacks those unwilling to do the barest minimum to prevent the spread of it. And well over a million people have died of it in the US alone. Not entirely sure how I feel about that, but for the most part, after seeing the types of idiots who refuse to believe it's real, I'm not all that sad.

Not all SAC reserve canopies had mesh treated with process chemicals containing acid. Some did, some did not. This was determined with using the bromo alkali test and pull test using a scale with special vise clamps designed for the test. I find it hard to believe that the (older) rigger did not use the above test as recommended by the manufacturer prior to ripping it from skirt to apex first with his/her bare hands. Or did you leave that part out? BJ Alexander (old rigger)

Mindless spiralling isn't good, but then again being mindless in the sky isn't good no matter how one chooses to express that. In my opinion there's nothing wrong with spiralling down as long as the spiralling pilot is aware of their surroundings, high enough, knows where all others are, and knows that they are not in the way of anyone trying to fly a neat pattern. Whether or not fun is involved is not for me to judge. For me, those criteria are easily met at my C182 home DZ, but not often at a C208 (or bigger plane) DZ. For students, spiralling is rightly discouraged in general because they are not likely to have enough awareness of their surroundings yet.

Seems a bit harsh. Spiralling is still fun. Spiralling can teach a lot. Doing spirals doesn't mean "simply hold one toggle full down for at least 3 full turns". After all, every swoop starts with some sort of a spiral entry, like brakes & single riser, double risers, harness, etc. Plenty to practice there. Swoop recoveries or emergency recoveries from dives also need a spiral entry. Practicing popped brake scenarios gives you spirals. Testing canopy stability using harness turns while brakes are set, that's another thing that can use spirals. Catching up to another canopy to do proximity (or CRW) canopy work can involve spirals. And, heck, I've done crossbraced swoop canopy 2-stack CRW spirals. (Well, I did that way high up!) Sure, mindless spirals aren't that much fun I guess once one is used to the canopy one is flying, and one is no longer just impressed by the speed of one's newer, smaller canopy. But there are plenty of things to practice that may involve steep diving turns of 180 degrees plus, or maybe 360 degrees, depending on one's personal definition of spiral or partial spirals.

I'd ask a canopy coach to evaluate you. There are people with thousands of jumps who shouldn't be jumping a 1.38 WL, and people with 50 who could handle it with ease.