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In related news. Russia under the enlightened leadership of Putin. Using the broadcasts of FOX news and Chinese communist media. Is winning the war with its hands tied behind its back. Its kicking NATO's ass and humiliating Biden. "Spinning together a counternarrative for tens of millions of viewers, Russian propagandists plucked clips from American cable news, right-wing social media and Chinese officials. They latched onto claims that Western embargoes of Russian oil would be self-defeating, that the United States was hiding secret bioweapon research labs in Ukraine and that China was a loyal ally against a fragmenting West. Day by day, state media journalists sharpened those themes in emails. They sometimes broadcast battlefield videos and other information sent to them by the successor agency to the K.G.B. And they excerpted and translated footage from favorite pundits, like the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whose remarks about the war were shown to millions of Russians." In WW2 Japan had Iva Toguri, AKA Tokyo Rose. Today Putin has Tucker Carlson.

The state should not be in the business of killing people.

Unfortunately it can be fast, cheap, accurate and fair - pick any two.

We shouldn't have for profit prisons either. More financial reasons than legal reasons seems to lead their thinking. Even some State guidelines on incarceration are odd. Unless it's been changed, Ii Florida, if you're taken to jail, you will stay there for a minimum of 48 hours in order for the county to receive State funds for the cost of housing you. This simple rule has cost people their jobs, which can create a cascade of financial disaster for them.

A few months before I got out of the tandem game (after 10 years and probably 5000+ tandems): I exit on a handcam jump that had outside video as well, and right out the door I realize I didn't buckle my full face helmet. So I'm flying the entire jump with my right hand on my head, filming with my left, and cursing the camera flyer who decided (not for the first time) to film everything while carving around us on his head. Apart from that helmet annoyance and the freeflying camera guy, we get to 6000' uneventfully, whereas I reach back with my left hand (wasn't going to sacrifice my helmet for the opening shot), pull, and nothing happens. I switch hands, hold down my helmet with my left, and pull the right handle. Nothing. Now we're getting to 5000', and everything I know about release blockages and drogues in tow on Sigmas flashes through my head. I give the left handle another go, then say a quick prayer and fire the reserve past the trailing drogue. It clears, and we have a brisk, but totally manageable deployment, and I fly us down, hoping the people on the ground aren't too freaked out by the drogue dragging behind us, trying to get some good canopy HC footage to make up for what would definitely be suboptimal freefall. We land, and I look back to locate my drogue. And it's not there. And that's when I realize it's still in the BOC, where it's been the entire time because I was too busy holding down my helmet and filming the jump, and the camera guy was just trying to keep up with us, and we went straight to reserve from drogueless terminal. And I was generally pretty proud of myself for not being one of those TIs who need the drogue to get them stable, but the dumbfuckery I managed to cram into this jump still makes me a bit sick to my stomach.

I read things like this and it makes me realize why I don't understand most people's buying habits.

Thats always going to be a tough one, but there are loads of situations that are much simpler, where people have mental capacity but such a low quality of life that this can be a much kinder way out. We shouldn't try and solve for every situation from day one.

New episode out now! DB Cooper was a Mad Scientist with Nicky Broughton and Ryan Burns. Enjoy! https://thecoopervortex.podbean.com/e/db-cooper-was-a-mad-scientist-nicky-broughton-and-ryan-burns/

I'm 100% for it, but as others have mentioned, with enough checks to ensure it's the best option for the person choosing it, without so much getting in the way that it's not *really* an available option. If I get something like an Alzheimer's diagnosis, I'm not sticking around to the end. That's not fair on my wife and friends, and the transitionary phase - while I'm still aware enough to know that I'm losing my mind - is a nightmare to me.

We tend to treat our animals better than our elders. I am a strong proponent of Assisted Suicide.

Hi folks, Since I started the thread on Capital Punishment, this issue is in the news today: Ban on assisted suicide not against European Convention on Human Rights, court rules | NL Times I live in Oregon & we have it as a matter of law; even if there are quite a few very stringent conditions that have to be met. Earlier this year, a long-time friend called me & told me about a guy from our high school days that shot himself. He was dying of cancer & decided to end things early. What are your thoughts on Assisted Suicide? Jerry Baumchen

Good. Killing people in the name of "justice" absolutely should NOT be easy. Particularly given the chances of getting it wrong.

Strong Enterprises has published an extensive manual on how to do 25-jump-inspections on Dual Hawk. DHT has a number of well-known high-wear areas that need to be inspected or repaired on a regular basis. I have done close to 4,000 jumps on DHT along with dozens more on Vector 1, Vector 2, Sigma, Racer, Next and Veckbecker tandems. They all have their quirks. I have also inspected and repacked a hundred or so DHT reserves. I lost count of how many Strong tandem mains (425, 500, SET 400 and SET 366) that I have re-lined.

Vlad The Great? Who knows. He has been in power a long time and even if he started out level headed and sane is probably drunk with power by now. He has now made a big but somewhat understandable miscalculation. An even bigger one is most likely in the cards.

Well at $3 million a shot the Patriot isn't the end all. Agree with Joe. Perhaps 1000 of the older M1 tanks would help. There are over 2600 of the older M1s in storage now. As long as Ukraine promises not to take Moscow with them. One way or another Putin has to learn that striking Ukrainian infrastructure is a losing proposition for him. Otherwise he and his new Ayatollah buddy will just keep trading arms. Given the performance of Russian technology nuclear weapon technology to Iran will be next. These are the newer ones; U.S. approves potential sale $3.75 billion of M1A1 Abrams tanks to Poland

Can you call Trump an atheist if he worships himself?

We are now officially fucking up. Our defense reserve ammunition requirement is 2.5 wars against Russia, China and North Korea. Well, Russia isn't the Russia our vaunted planners hoped we would believe. No matter, they are now seriously degraded by our proxy war. We don't need a lot of our stocks. Time to pour it on, methinks. Send everything now including long range missiles.

Yeah, there you go using facts again. The simple reality is that they absolutely refuse to believe that their hateful rhetoric has ANYTHING to do with this, or any other attack. They then have to create some sort of 'fairy tale' (pun not intended) that the Alt-Right attacker, who was fed all the lies and fantasies about Pelosi 'destroying' the country, instead was a 'gay prostitute'. They then deny that they are 'programmed'.

Every once in a while I check out Franklin Graham’s Facebook page. He violates the Johnson Amendment weekly. He posted about meeting with Mike Pence. The comments from his flock are hilarious. They are all pissed off at Pence for not keeping their messiah in office. Its an interesting read and gives insight into the MAGA mind. Pence, the most conservative and religious guy ever getting torched by fellow Christians because they believe the lies of an atheist that is their idol. You just can’t make this shit up…

Though flying a suit with the DZ logo assisting in DZ promotion, I have a good 400+ jumps at the DZ paid from my own pocket, for training, funjumps and events I organized. Though in other parts of the world, there might be plenty better options, but if looking for a place to jump in Europe in winter, you options are incredibly limited. With 15.000 ft as a standard drop altitude, multiple fast twin turbine airplanes, it's definitely one of the better (if not only) real choice in Europe for fall/winter. Arizona, Elsinore and many USA dropzones trump SS in facilities, lift capacity and more. The only reason I mentioned the dropzone, is as Ive been there a lot, and feedback on EU dropzones tends to be limited. These tend to be my primary focal points when looking at places to coach/train. Champagne and a lounge area are nice perks, but not always the main reason I visit a DZ

My wife says birthdays and anniversaries only, she's mean like that.

More importantly, we’re talking about assisted suicide — people who need help, which in most jurisdictions would be considered murder. You don’t want someone to decide for granny that she’s ready to go when she can’t just do it herself. She has to decide, and if a doctor is going to help, then she’s going to want to be darn sure it’s the right thing to do Wendy P.

Hmm, I'm not sure I agree with you suggesting that they didn't recognize him as different. Their psychological profile on him goes into detail about who they think he was: a manager/executive type, well educated, not a career criminal, perhaps his only crime, likely angry about what was happening in the aerospace industry at the time.

To hell with the attacks, let's see some handcuffs.

Apparently we should thank the brave parents who send their small, innocent children to be sacrificed before the god of guns. /s It's maddening that we as a society accept this as opposed to protecting our children. It's a sad statement of a country that chooses to spend more time, money, and effort to kill fellow humans than to care for each other. This speaks to the lack of gun control as well as our military budget. We are a nation of violence. We are failing our future.

Doctor approved, seconded by an independent doctor. Irreparable deterioration of quality of life.

When I was a youngster, I'd think "gee, she's good looking." Somewhat later I found myself thinking "I wonder what her mom looks like." Now it's more along the lines of "I wonder if her grandmother is too young for me."

My information is first hand. I have to be careful what I say here because things became litigious and I don't want to end up in litigation again. The new owners had intentions for the airport that were not conducive to it operating as an airport, again, being careful what I say. They had moved to evict with an extra-legal notice and we resisted. They then attempted to create cause for eviction, which they were unable to do. They then began operating a bulldozer in the landing area and doing other things to create safety issues. The end result was an agreement for us to leave, the terms of which I am unable to discuss. Editing to add: We had a very favourable lease that had a couple years left on it and an option for renewal for 5 more years at the same rent and the option to renew was solely at the discretion of our DZO. The previous airport owners were very supportive of us.