Free Republic

Exactly. If people just smiled sympathetically, patted them on the shoulder and said "I'm sure it bothers you. Just don't go there anymore and you'll be fine." we would all live in a better world.

Of course, a boot in the arse and a shouted command to go jump in a lake would be fine as well.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Bunch of snowflakes can go pound pound sand.

"... Kaepernick sparked additional controversy by donning a Fidel Castro t-shirt, wearing socks with police depicted as pigs..."

In a sane world, people would look at a scumbag like this, observe his support for a repressive communist tyrant like Fidel Castro (and does anyone, for even a second, think he doesn't kneel in respect in front of his Che Guevara poster) and deem the guy a total idiot and not worthy of anything more than invective and dismissal.

Instead, he is idolized and celebrated by the ostensible leader of this country, his repugnant wife, and millions of other "Americans".

It is beyond any understanding.

You fail to understand the difference between a legal issue and a moral issue, and you keep trying to make it a legal issue when it isn't. I am not talking about passing laws. It is a moral issue.

Doing the moral, right and humane thing is the thing to do whether you are on a urban farm in the middle of a liberal city with the laws hung over your head and liberals protesting at the edges of your property, or on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean 3000 miles away from any other human being when nobody is looking.

Most moral people try to instill exactly that in their children.

I love animals and respect life, and while I don’t elevate the life of an animal to a human, the life of nearly any animal I can think of is worth a lot more than some of the vile people who think it is just fine that animals suffer at the hands of humans out of laziness, neglect, or active abuse which they justify because it is only an animal.

Disgusting and shameful views that some espouse. It nauseates me.

In my opinion, anyone that would characterize abuse of an animal as completely fine because it is an animal, is only a step away from doing the exact same thing to a human they choose to characterize as an animal, whether that human deserves to be characterized that way or not.

This is the way liberals operate, especially liberals with an Alinskyite bent, such as those in power (and one angling to get elected)

Solving the problem or finding ‘middle ground’ is not important...what is important is finding an issue, and exacerbating it, ripping at any scab, poking it, cause it to fester to cause pain, anger, and anxiety, to bring the situation to a head so you can get the solution YOU want, not the one that is best or right.

That is the way liberals operate. A pox on all of them. All of them.

You characterize my viewpoint as utter nonsense, and liken it to nanny-state liberalism? You liken pulling a weed to tying a rope around an animal’s neck and watching it struggle and drown?

Shame on you. Conservative hunters have nothing but disgust and derision for people who share your viewpoint who would take a bad shot at an animal, wounding it and causing it to suffer needlessly.

By your viewpoint, it would be just fine to skin the animal alive, cut off all of its legs and let it take a half hour to die because it is just an animal with no “rights”.

You talk about “rights” and “the law”, which this has NOTHING to do with. The point is plain and simple, cruelty and the obverse, simple decency.

Just because one enjoys eating venison doesn’t mean one can or should butcher the animal while it is still living and breathing so they can get the freshest cut of meat, but in your narrow viewpoint, because they are dumb animals, that would be perfectly fine.

One can make the argument that shooting a deformed calf is a humane way of putting it down. Even braining it with a club is more humane.

Tying a cinderblock around its neck, throwing it in the water and watching it thrash around for a long period of time isn’t a humane thing to do. It is downright stupid.

It doesn’t have anything to do with “animal rights” and giving animals “the same rights as humans”. It has to do with cruelty.

When I was a kid back in the Sixties, I lived in Yokosuka, Japan on the navy base, and they had a significant number of abandoned dogs that became feral. They apparently lived in the caves the Japanese had dug there during WWII, and while most were sealed off, you could still get into some of them, and the dogs apparently did.

I got chased by a pack of them while riding my bike in a more remote part of the base, and had to take refuge by climbing a fence and sitting in the barbed wire on the top. It took me a while to get the courage to climb down.

I had to take to the fence because that damned bike had the most unnerving habit of having the chain come off the sprocket, especially when really pedaling hard and fast...so that pack came tearing down out of the hills from the direction of one of those caves, and when they were almost on me, that damned chain came off as they were snapping at me, and I jumped on the fence from the moving bike and climbed it.

When I came down from the fence, I had to put the chain back on before I could pedal away, and it took me a lot longer to do it because I was nervous and kept looking towards the hill those dogs had run down from.

All that said...this guy is a scumbag.

Heheheheh...in that case, I do hope to hear from you...:)

LOL, I am a noob compared to you, you sound like you have been poking at it a bit.

I have to figure out how to convince my wife I can build something that will work as an electricity backup if the power goes out, and to let me take the money out of savings to do it...she respects me, but...well...probably thinks I’ll cut my fingers off or something.

I can see how that would be the case, most of the other stuff is solid state, and if it is in a dry, properly maintained environment with the wiring properly done, most of the other stuff would likely last a while.

So, yeah...that makes sense to me.

Very good! I may take you up on that...

I understand that solution you describe completely and have looked into it, but I am mainly interested in a backup if the grid goes down.

I am thinking of building a wheeled approach that can be unplugged and moved instead of a fixed approach on top of my roof.

The vendors that I have talked to are only interested in installing a system that sells back to the grid, and I think that is great, but not what I am interested in.

No, didn't think you were being snarky at all...

He has 12 6v golf cart batteries rated at a lifespan of 10 years, and he uses a trickle charger to keep them charged, and also a device called a battery desulfator which extends the life of the battery to 30 years. (I have to take his word, I understand the concept, but have never had experience with them)

I like the way this guy did it, he designed the system with redundancy, and even has a faraday cage around his charge controllers (in the event of an EMP).

It isn't super pretty, but looks very functional, well thought out, and under $5000.

(If you are interested, here is the youtube link: DIY Solar Panel System)

I am fully interested in getting solar panels installed somewhere, but only if they can feed my own house and not the grid. I saw a great youtube video on a guy who put together a DIY system with four panels and 10 golf cart batteries for under $5000 that can serve as an emergency backup and provide some direct energy in the event of a power loss.

But to feed power back into the grid? No thanks.

BFL

A doormat...how fitting for any team he would quarterback...

If I were down there I would go out of my way to drop in and have a drink.

And step on the mat...freedom of speech and all...

Given that it is an establishment, I wouldn’t spit or anything else...

There are more conservatives up here in MA than one would think, but the political system is completely gerrymandered and jury-rigged as to be non-navigable and inpenetrable for conservatives except for trojan horses like Scott Brown or William Weld, and we saw how they turned out.

I might drive by and honk my horn in support...:)

THAT description did make me laugh...I just had a visualization of something that floats in water...

Words cannot express how low and detestable I find that piece of narcissistic excrement.

I used to pick up an occasional copy of the detestable Boston Globe, because I used newspaper and vinegar to clean the windows in my car, but...as with everything else associated with the liberal rags, it isn’t even fit for that anymore.

It turns into a mushy pulp now when it gets wet.

I say good. I will celebrate the day they declare bankruptcy.

Anthropogenic Global Warming? It’s beyond debate.

Joseph McCarthy as demagogue and trampler of innocents? It’s beyond debate.

Hillary Clinton’s state of health? It’s beyond debate.

Donald Trump’s un-fitness to be President? It’s beyond debate.

Anyone see a pattern here?

Any time liberals want to steamroll something they cannot debate intellectually, they piously intone “It’s beyond debate”, signalling that only a dimwit would deign to doubt their expertise that it is a settled issue.

Thanks MadMax...I guess I have been following it, but I am surprised that the “rank and file” think this is something they can do-it is appalling to me.

I fully understand the weasels in charge, but it didn’t occur to me that they would go so far as to allow this, even if they are pouring acid on everything they can from a systemic perspective.

I find this deeply disturbing. I feel the same way about my father that you do about your father-in-law...I am glad I don’t have to see his face or hear his voice as he would have confronted these bits of ‘news’. (as much as I would love to see his face and hear his voice...”

I don’t get it. Has the rot gone that deep that someone thinks they can do this in the service?

"...Court martial, dishonorable discharge..."

100%. No BCD. Dishonorable.

I see it that many of them know there is no way they can defend their vote for Hillary Clinton as anything more than simple partisanship.

Even to them it is an embarrassment.

"...We can elect an experienced, thoughtful and deeply knowledgeable public servant or a thin-skinned demagogue who is unqualified and unsuited to be president...

I don't know, how much of that knowledge is left in Hillary Clinton's head (if it was ever there to begin with) if it got lost when she hit her head, the same way her "knowledge" of the handling of classified materials did?

Sorry about that double-post...was trying to figure out HTML...

Any time the narrative comes up where there it is asserted there is an epidemic of black men being shot by police officers, here is the statistic that should lead off the ensuing conversation:

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In 2015, according to federal crime statistics, a police officer of ANY race is 18 times more likely to die at the hands of a black man, than a black man is to die at the hands of a police officer.
"The Myths of Black Lives Matter" by Heather MacDonald)

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Here is an excellent video from Bill Whittle that puts things in the proper perspective:

"Black Lives Matter Kills People" by Bill Whittle
It is a 7 minute video which puts it in context, and explains much.

Here is the statistic that counts:

In 2015, according to federal crime statistics, a police officer of any race is 18 times more likely to die at the hands of a black man, than a black man is to die at the hands of a police officer.
"The Myths of Black Lives Matter" by Heather MacDonald)

Good to read this, but from the first paragraph I read about this, and watching the video, I see how this man got shot. Doesn’t excuse it, but it provides a logical progression. This dead man shares the most burden for his own demise.

Man parks car in middle of road. Man behaving weirdly. Man refuses to obey commands. Man has a record of selling and using PCP. Man has PCP in his car.

When in Arizona and you hear hoofbeats, it is logical to think horses, not zebras.

Agreed...music to make you feel like moving...

Yeah, I have one of his albums as well “Jackpot!”...

I heard a song somewhere and really liked it, so I looked it up based on the lyrics and bought the album. Had never heard his stuff before.

Love it, high energy, up music. Great driving music when you are in a good mood. It is the antithesis of that rap crap.

RIP, sir. Thank you.

She certainly didn’t voice any “we women were such victims” tripe in her commencement speech. Just the opposite, which was part of what made her inspiring.

She spoke at my college graduation...it was an excellent address. Everybody enjoyed her, down to earth, humorous, inspiring.

"...Here’s to hoping a turf war breaks out..."

Yeah. I'll drink to a serious, and full-blown turf war.

Like the Iran-Iraq war, we could support both sides in their efforts to inflict as much damage on the others as they can.

Yeah, the Iraq war was “widely considered to be a failure” by some of the same a-holes he would scream the loudest of nothing was done.

As the Aussies say, “Good on ya.”

In my opinion, there is so much more to a game than the “game”. That is why a championship is so much more interesting and engaging to watch than nearly any game early in a season, or any two teams who have a particular rivalry.

There are plots, undercurrents, utilization of resources, planning, strategy, preparation, so much more to what makes a game interesting to watch than simply two teams lining up and running a play.

Most fans identify with one team or another, that is what makes it fun for many people. Of course, there are people who watch games with no “dog in the fight” and enjoy it, I do too, but...most people like watching a team they are rooting for. It is what makes it exciting and fun!

LOL, I would pay money to hear that from a fan of a team...

"My team was missing important players, down to their third string quarterback with nobody backing him up, an underdog in their own stadium on a national stage with everyone rooting against them, and they crushed their opponent in a shutout...I thought it was boring."

Not to say someone WOULDN'T say it, but I think it would be rare!

It was boring unless you were a Patriots fan...:)

Yes, he beat an established opponent in his first race doing just that...knowing and connecting with his constituents.

He should be an American Hero, not an American Pariah.

"...Perhaps he believed that he was writing about a flawed socialism and that his vision of socialism was of something more pure that had never been attempted correctly..."

I think you may have it there. There are many people who still somehow, even after all the times it has been shown that socialism inevitably leads to tyranny (and communism IS tyranny) seem to believe that the fundamental principle is sound, but..."they didn't do it the right way". People like that usually don't believe in God, either, because they can't understand that there might be forces that can't be quantified, felt, or most importantly, manipulated, that can have significant effects on things. People like that feel that they can control everything, if they are only allowed to put their hands on the controls of government. It is why many of them abhor capitalism...they don't understand or believe in "The Invisible Hand" that serves as a regulating influence on an economy.

Ahhh. I think I was just put off by the appearance of the girls. Seeing what appear to be attractive young girls, made up like that, wearing those dresses and giving the finger just grabbed all my attention.

The picture irritated me, and I just couldn’t look at it the way I needed to, so I think you are right!

Hahahahahahahahaha! OMG, now THAT is government tyranny!

I was not born then either, but what I have seen is that from 1918 to 1950, especially in England (but in the USA as well) it wasn’t considered by many to be much more than a youthful dalliance, to discover a man was a “bolshevik” and had been a member of the Communist party.

There were conversations like “What? He isn’t a bolshevik, is he? God, how I dislike them...” which indicates it was perceived as being not that much more of a black mark as someone who was an atheist or womanizer.

Of course, that was before the West became fully privy to the murderous depredations and evils of communism because the media and government dupes in the West went out of their way NOT to see and report on the bloodletting and tyranny that was going on.

Of all the things that I admire about Joseph McCarthy (see my Freep Page) it is that he made being a communist something that people became ashamed of and had to actively hide. In doing so, he paid with his life, but I think, bought this country decades more of freedom, though that began to crumble when the radicals from the sixties began entering government.

We are probably more riddled with people in government who have communist tendencies now than we ever were back then (which is saying a lot, because there was a LOT of that) but now, they mask it by saying they aren’t communists and they love America, but when they say it, they don’t mean it the way you or I would!