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Oh yes, I get the desire to have some of the less ridiculous stuff be true. I can even understand how some could believe the false assertion that the government would be forcing churches to perform same-sex weddings (of course, just a little time to sit and think about that one should resolve it, but ... reasons). Indeed. And this is my major point. We know how the downward spiral started and perpetuated (and we saw it again during the civil rights movement, though used to a lesser fatal degree). We know how to find and identify the truth from the propaganda. After 70+ years, we know how to be better human beings to each other (and we know how to "adult" and leverage appropriate recourse against things that scare us). If these things and these skills aren't being taught to kids in schools (what happened to the "citizenship" grades?), then they need to be brought back. Obviously all the good people in the churches aren't doing it/helping out (I mean really -- what would Jesus do?). It should be citizenship 101. You don't have to believe that the kid with the different color skin sitting next to you is your "equal," but you have to let her in the classroom because she is a person, and has rights to the same education and responsibilities to the community (rule of law, respecting others, etc). It's so simple that it just boggles the mind of a member of an evolved species that it's still so easy to manipulate the masses using total nonsense, and keep them on the hook for this long.

I agree with Nabz. In any situation like this, there are always a lot of potential variables to consider. If the tandem canopy came out of the bag, it could inflate into a downplane. That it's attached to his leg by the bridle, inflation might be unlikely, but it could still end up entangling with his main, or it could snag something on the ground on his final, causing him to faceplant his landing, many possibilities. Getting it off his foot, it is unlikely that it would end up in his main, but it could and it did. A main thing, and I think it's an important point, is that he opened and executed corrective procedures while he was still high, and thus was able to eventually cut away from the whole mess and end up under his reserve. In any situation like that, altitude equals time, and both are your friend.

Nabz & Dudeman17 - thank you!

Max Boot, in WaPo 10/13/20 Many voters are still supporting Trump because they’re living in a hermetically sealed disinformation bubble that is impermeable to reality. A Pew Research Center survey makes clear the extent of the problem. Among those who get their election news primarily from Fox “News,” 86 percent say Trump is delivering the “completely right” or “mostly right” message about the pandemic, 78 percent that “the U.S. has controlled the outbreak as much as it could have” and 61 percent that Trump and his administration get the facts right about the coronavirus “almost all” or “most of the time.” Perhaps the most disturbing finding of all: 39 percent of Fox News viewers say that QAnon — an insane conspiracy theory that posits that Trump’s opponents are satanic child-molesters — is “somewhat good” or “very good” for the country. I’m sorry, these are not issues on which rational people can legitimately disagree. Trump’s covid-19 message — that, as he said Saturday, “it is disappearing” — is objectively false. In the past week, daily confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States have increased by 13.3 percent and hospitalizations by 9.8 percent. Trump’s claims to the contrary, we have done far worse during the pandemic than most wealthy countries. If we had the same death rate as Canada, 132,000 victims of covid-19 would still be alive. And it should go without saying that QAnon, whose adherents have been linked to numerous acts of violence, is a bane, not a boon. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) used to say: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” That’s no longer true. While irrationality and conspiratorial thinking exist on both the left and the right, the right in recent decades has been much more afflicted by an epidemic of “alternative facts.” This is not a new development: Conspiracy theories about fluoridation, Whitewater, Vince Foster’s death, John F. Kerry’s Swift boat service, Bill Clinton’s 1969 trip to Moscow and Barack Obama’s birth certificate predate the Trump presidency. But the rise of Fox News and Facebook allows “fake news” to spread much more readily — and Trump gives it the imprimatur of the Oval Office. It’s bad enough that the president lies so much; what’s worse is that so many think he is telling the truth. Unfortunately, even if Trump is defeated, a large portion of the country will continue to believe a lot of things that simply are not so — and a small but significant number could be led into violence by their lunatic beliefs. The disturbing plot by members of a right-wing militia to kidnap the governor of Michigan may be a taste of what is to come. As Francisco Goya warned, “the sleep of reason produces monsters.”

While that's certainly a part of it, you can't ignore the simple idea that people believe it because they WANT TO. I wasn't aware of the ties & parallels with Anti-Semitism, but I'm not at all surprised. It's the same mentality. And the same sorts of people. Not just the stupid and uneducated (they do play a part), but the marginalized and desperate. Largely older white men, people who's racism and misogyny were not socially acceptable for the past 40 years or so. First Obama gets elected. Those people have to put up with one of THEM in the White House. Then the SC legalizes gay marriage. It's now 'shoved down their throats'. Then it becomes apparent that HRC will be the Dem nominee for pres. A woman and an "Obama Lover". So along comes Trump. And he says all the garbage that these morons wish they could. Mexicans are rapists. Muslims are terrorists. Beat up people who disagree with you. Women should be 'grabbed by the pussy'. Jews are good accountants. Nazis & KKK are 'very fine people'. His people are 'above the law', but those he dislikes should be arrested (without charge). Then, along comes "q". Giving these suckers a belief that they have 'inside information'. Coming from those close to Trump. Or Trump himself (despite the fact that Trump said he doesn't know much other than they like him). Giving the fools the hope that HRC and the rest will be arrested and taken to Gitmo for 'military tribunals' (and hopefully torture). The parallels and similarities to how the Nazis demonized the Jews is very scary. But hey, it gives them the hope that they will be back on top, the way they used to be. The idea that women and minorities should have the same rights as them is abhorrent. So they keep on believing it, regardless of how often the "drops" have had accurate information or predictions (zero).

They're into necrophilia?

Well said. I remain in favor of simply defunding the courts instead of packing. No money for clerks, paper clips or summer vacations. I’d go so far as to turn the heat off. That’ll slow down things and take the fun out of being a strict textualist. That said, if they do pack it go big. Add another 10 or 20 justices just to make it insane for the right to add another 20 when they regain power.

I would have done the same as the camera guy, who knows what the tandem canopy would do once it caught air. It could have turned into a downward bi-plane had he not removed it. He made it out alive, I think he made the best decision at that moment...

I'll say it again. All this nonsense is an indictment of the American education system. Seriously -- where are the (even most basic) critical thinking skills? Occam's razor, anyone?

Come on, Libtards, so now you have a problem with folks volunteering to assist voters? It's a constitutional right kids. "An unregulated ballot box, being necessary to the pirating of a free and fair election, the right of Republicans to collect and count your ballot shall not be infringed."

Hi Joe, This is the real tyranny of the Trump election. Jerry Baumchen