Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

Jim, nice photo, but I've always thought that a photo of the Grand Canyon is similar to a photo of Saturn. We've all seen photos of the Grand Canyon(and Saturn) many times as children, so we have "some idea" of what it looks like. I remember the first time I saw the canyon, and for me, I was seeing something beyond my comprehension. It's like that with Saturn. My first view of Saturn was through a "department store" 60mm refractor on about 40x. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Nevertheless, yours is a nice photo. 

Was this the Northern Rim?

Hi Darian - standing on the south rim, looking at the north rim.  We've been to the GC twice, this was the first time we hiked down into the canyon.  The perspective there is different again, and hard to describe, the place is so big.  I too had a 60mm Sears refractor that I loved as a most prized possession.  But the mount was so crappy and I had no coaching, I hardly ever actually used it.  I think the only thing I ever saw was the moon, which is pretty impressive.  I wish I had seen Saturn back then though, it is always a favorite when I show it to other people for the first time.

Jim  

Originally Posted by Mel Maki

I agree the Feds took it too far with that sign. If there are good places to ignore mask rules this has to be one of them.
I'll take a wild guess that maybe half of the voters are ok with the sign, though. They could ask, "Where is the harm?"

Hi Mel,  I suppose you are right.  Still, the vast majority of people happily ignored the outdoor signs.  Especially the ones who were speaking English and were probably Americans or Canadians.  There are always foreign tourists from Asia and South America in the National Parks.  I suppose they were vaccinated, since they had to be upper-class to travel, but I don't know.  

Politically the thing that bugs me is that the establishment is not following the science with these signs.  Masks and previous vaccinations have not proven to be effective at stopping the spread of Omicron.  I do think that vaccination and or prior immunity have helped a lot in preventing serious illness.  At some point, the various government agencies are going to have to reach the conclusion that virtually all of the population has already reached about the pandemic:  It is here.  It is not a big deal if you are vaccinated/healthy/had it before and not fixing to die anyway from another condition, serious co-morbidity, or age.

This is the daily new cases graph for the US.  Omicron is going out - we must be at some sort of herd immunity.  Time to accept that our seasonal illness landscape has changed some, but that it is not going to be that big of a deal for most people.  How long until the Feds take down those signs?  Could be way too long, I suppose.  

I say all of the above without any regrets for the masking, distancing, and vaccination campaigns I supported and participated in.  Those were reasonable and effective steps, easily taken to flatten the curve, avoid overwhelming the health care system and minimize death.  I look forward to more analysis of shut downs as a tool.  It could very well be that in the final analysis, the costs outweigh the benefits.  This would be good to know, next time a pandemic comes along.  Jim

The depth of green represents the decrease in the infection rate in each state.  https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases-50-states  It is interesting that Omicron, being so infectious, has caused similar heard immunity responses in the most buttoned up blue states, and in the most relaxed red states.  We should be celebrating.  If I were Biden, I'd be trotting out graphs like this and congratulating the nation on pulling together to weather the storm.  That is not how politics works though, nowadays.  If the politicians and camp followers can't create a wedge issue, why even bother acknowledging the situation?  We see that on the forum every day.

I suppose Rod will show up and remind me that the next variant could wipe us all out and I suppose that is true.  (Like Ed Moreno of the forum past and "Peak Oil" remember him?)  Personally, I am glad to have things in my patch of the world almost entirely back to normal.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

https://news.yahoo.com/new-video-jan-6-capitol-riot-pence-threat-drag-through-streets-195249884.html

Seriously Rod?  The rantings of two crazed nimrods from Texas can be extrapolated to everyone who attended the rally??  Jim 

Originally Posted by Brian McFarland

I don't see anywhere in this thread where Rod did that. Mel said "People that thought there would be an attempt to hang a politician that day are believing the wrong accounts of what happened" and Rod replied with a video. It doesn't have to be "everyone" to make the attempt valid. I see two pissed off morons threatening to "drag him through the streets", and if I'm not mistaken, decapitate him, while on their way to the capitol where they all breached security. Plenty of people in the background cheering them on, too. I have to wonder what would have happened if that mob had found him. 

Hi Brian:

Perhaps I was unfair to Rod.  I'm late to the thread.  It seemed to me that Mel's statement was broad and expansive - a statement regarding the whole initial rally.  Rod's link was directed specifically toward two boastful morons.  If I misread Rod's implication, my bad, but it would help if posters here added some commentary to links so we know what they meant.  I think a reasonable conclusion from an un-commented link is implicit endorsement.  

For the partisans and the press, this is ultimately a game of political semantics.  It is silly for the GOP to characterize this riot as some sort of noble exercise of free speech.  It is equally silly of the Democrats to characterize this as a legitimate armed insurrection.  The riot was at first a political rally and that is all it was for most initial participants.  Then, for a subset of the original participants, it became an illegal riot.  A criminal enterprise.  I think for most rioters inside the capital it was immensely stupid, criminal, but spontaneous, not that this matters much for their own personal culpability.  The prosecutions and convictions are being handed down as should be.   

We don't know what the mob would have done if they found Pelosi or Pence.  No one was beaten to death or hanged by the mob though, so they don't seem to be killers.  Boastful fools is more like it.  I certainly could be wrong.   Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

Jim,
I didn't state that it could be extrapolated to everyone who attended the insurrection. However:
"A noose seen hanging from a gallows outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection is in the custody of federal agents."
"As rioters bludgeoned, beat and berated police inside the Capitol and out, a gallows with a bright orange noose was erected as marauders screamed, “Hang Mike Pence.”
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/noose-displayed-at-capitol-insurrection-in-fbis-custody/2863204/

Maybe they would have hung Pence, if they had caught him.  I doubt it.  These rioters strike me as deluded fools, not killers.  Still, history shows that deluded fools, if whipped into a frenzy, can easily cross the line to becoming killers, so I could be very wrong.  I am certainly not saying that the security efforts to protect Pence, Pelosi and others were misplaced.  J

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

http://2000mules.com/

2000 Mules.

Some of the predicted responses:  

James Lacey - LOL. Dinesh D'Souza is a well known right wing political hack.

Rod Kaufman -  Trumptoids believe all right wing conspiracy theories.  LOL 

Feel free to put in your 2 cents.  

Here's what I want to know.  Do you, Richard Davis actually believe the content you post, specifically this link to 2000 Mules??  

Jim

Originally Posted by Mel Maki

Well, when comically it is not even close!! Some things need to be called out!! There has to be at least a little bit of credibility in this forum!!
And now I point out that the Dems are disappointed to learn it was not real!

Hi Mel:

In my view, the symbolism of a gallows is what actually matters here.  Far more important in the political spectrum than whether or not it was a proper gallows suitable for actually hanging someone.  That is pretty poignant stuff, the symbolism.   

Let me ask you this - do you think the slipshod nature of the gallows excuses or mitigates any of the crimes the rioters who entered the Capital are accused of?

Jim 

p.s.  No one is accused of attempted murder or conspiracy to commit murder by hanging.  At least not that I know of.  

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

The use of Gazpacho tactics by Nancy Pelosi is chilling.

Kimmell: "These must be the Soup Nazis Seinfeld warned us about so many years [ago]"

Sure the Gazpacho Police are bad but the elite Vichyssoise inspired pureed terror.

I’ve met some members of the gazpacho police. They are consommé professionals.

Funny!  

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Mel,

  It is funny to watch all the leftists here and the resident RINO go insane, thinking that Pence would be caught by some of the crazies and hung by the neck in that "gallows".    LOL!  

One has to be an idiot of epic proportions to think that Pence didn't have the finest security on the planet, and these are the moronic responses you get from them Mel:  

      "Maybe they would have hung Pence, if they had caught him".

You just have to wonder what goes through a head like that, and have to ask yourself, is that person dealing with any reality at all?

Then you have this buffoonish, moronic response:  

     "Nobody can state definitively what their intent was except them, but poor carpentry skills don't suggest anything one way or the other". 

No, their brains are collectively mush and easily duped by the dumbest people on the planet, MSNBC pundits, and CNN morons.  

It is best to take these dipshits, the Leftists and the RINO Here with a grain of salt.  They really are THAT stupid Mel.  

Ah-ha.  My guess is that our resident "pretend" carpenter, you know, the one who claims to be a cabinet maker but actually lives in his mom's basement pounding away on a computer all day actually built the gallows!  He's pissed that Mel, an engineer I think, pointed out the slipshod nature of the work.  But given the alleged carpenter's black/white view of the world he has no choice but to direct his anger and frustration at the "leftists" and "RINOs."