TrickstaPriest

You aren't alone. I have a friend who begins to twitch, literally twitch, less than 3 minutes into his bullsh**
 
I can endure longer but I end up turning into Statler and Waldorf

Back in the day, there was a site called Hero Central.  I've been experimenting with local file restores of certain campaigns on the site.
 
In short, if someone wants to read a campaign they were in, I can pass them zips of specific campaigns from Hero Central.  They require are offline files, they are JavaScript (so a reasonable browser and computer, not a phone), and at this point I'm trying to keep the list I give out small.
 
That being said, if you know a campaign you were a part of, tell me, and I'll pass along the files for it.
 
This is still in the alpha stage so there may be lots of bugs or debugging to get threads to work. 
 
I have no plans to upload them to the general internet, and for the sake of people's general privacy I request that you do not post them publicly either.  In other words...
 
1)  The files will not be hosted online.  Please do not upload them to the general internet either, please.
2)  This fix requires javascript.  This means you'll want a computer browser, not a phone, to read these.  Later I may make flat files. 
3)  The javascript is clunky.  I can't guarantee it'll work.  This javascript is used to let me completely rewrite the templates later, and to standardize loading schemes.
4)  Files on the site are not included.  This includes character sheets, images, avatars, attachments.  I don't have any of those, sorry.
5)  I haven't included thread visibility rules.  Because anyone could lurk the site in general, anything meant to be "in private" on a thread was not actually private.  My apologies if your expectations were as such but I never designed the site.
6)  I removed most user's information before distribution.
7) I haven't 'interpreted' the [action]/etc forum blocks.  I will later release updates to the templates that may resolve this.
8 )  There -shouldn't- be dangerous HTML, but right now HTML is rendering.  I may decide to filter this out if I feel there is a safety issue.  I don't recall malware ever being on the site.  I can't guarantee safety however...

I've managed to resolve some JavaScript issues, and now the games build with a static and dynamic version of the posts.  I also created post lists for both formats.  If the dynamic file list doesn't work, the dynamic posts won't... so it works out pretty well! 
 

Back in the day, there was a site called Hero Central.  I've been experimenting with local file restores of certain campaigns on the site.
 
In short, if someone wants to read a campaign they were in, I can pass them zips of specific campaigns from Hero Central.  They require are offline files, they are JavaScript (so a reasonable browser and computer, not a phone), and at this point I'm trying to keep the list I give out small.
 
That being said, if you know a campaign you were a part of, tell me, and I'll pass along the files for it.
 
This is still in the alpha stage so there may be lots of bugs or debugging to get threads to work. 
 
I have no plans to upload them to the general internet, and for the sake of people's general privacy I request that you do not post them publicly either.  In other words...
 
1)  The files will not be hosted online.  Please do not upload them to the general internet either, please.
2)  This fix requires javascript.  This means you'll want a computer browser, not a phone, to read these.  Later I may make flat files. 
3)  The javascript is clunky.  I can't guarantee it'll work.  This javascript is used to let me completely rewrite the templates later, and to standardize loading schemes.
4)  Files on the site are not included.  This includes character sheets, images, avatars, attachments.  I don't have any of those, sorry.
5)  I haven't included thread visibility rules.  Because anyone could lurk the site in general, anything meant to be "in private" on a thread was not actually private.  My apologies if your expectations were as such but I never designed the site.
6)  I removed most user's information before distribution.
7) I haven't 'interpreted' the [action]/etc forum blocks.  I will later release updates to the templates that may resolve this.
8 )  There -shouldn't- be dangerous HTML, but right now HTML is rendering.  I may decide to filter this out if I feel there is a safety issue.  I don't recall malware ever being on the site.  I can't guarantee safety however...

Back in the day, there was a site called Hero Central.  I've been experimenting with local file restores of certain campaigns on the site.
 
In short, if someone wants to read a campaign they were in, I can pass them zips of specific campaigns from Hero Central.  They require are offline files, they are JavaScript (so a reasonable browser and computer, not a phone), and at this point I'm trying to keep the list I give out small.
 
That being said, if you know a campaign you were a part of, tell me, and I'll pass along the files for it.
 
This is still in the alpha stage so there may be lots of bugs or debugging to get threads to work. 
 
I have no plans to upload them to the general internet, and for the sake of people's general privacy I request that you do not post them publicly either.  In other words...
 
1)  The files will not be hosted online.  Please do not upload them to the general internet either, please.
2)  This fix requires javascript.  This means you'll want a computer browser, not a phone, to read these.  Later I may make flat files. 
3)  The javascript is clunky.  I can't guarantee it'll work.  This javascript is used to let me completely rewrite the templates later, and to standardize loading schemes.
4)  Files on the site are not included.  This includes character sheets, images, avatars, attachments.  I don't have any of those, sorry.
5)  I haven't included thread visibility rules.  Because anyone could lurk the site in general, anything meant to be "in private" on a thread was not actually private.  My apologies if your expectations were as such but I never designed the site.
6)  I removed most user's information before distribution.
7) I haven't 'interpreted' the [action]/etc forum blocks.  I will later release updates to the templates that may resolve this.
8 )  There -shouldn't- be dangerous HTML, but right now HTML is rendering.  I may decide to filter this out if I feel there is a safety issue.  I don't recall malware ever being on the site.  I can't guarantee safety however...

I err on the side of trusting our special operations commanders. I was in DLI with a ton of these guys from officers to NCOs, and I trust their judgement. (Obviously not Trump's.)
 
Edit: I'm not entirely ruling out the possibility that you and Old Man are right. but I'm erring on the side of our SEALs until I hear something concrete about the unit being compromised.

Not since the 27th amendment was passed they haven't.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-seventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
 
"No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened" 
 
They can't change their own pay - they can change the pay of the NEXT congress (which they presumably hope to be elected to, admittedly.)
 
 
 
 
Exactly. Clever of them to ratify an amendment that keeps them from raising their pay and ALSO gives them an excuse for not lowering or forfeiting their own pay either.
 
Lucius Alexander
 
"No law, forbidding a palindromedary to be in a tagline, shall take effect, ever, period."

It's kind of hard to refute that bump stocks (and similar devices) are intentional end runs around restrictions on full auto. I'm sure the NRA and some other organizations might put up a token resistance, but I'm also equally sure they don't really care about them. Besides, they aren't technically being banned*, just made NFA items. So pony up your $200 tax and you can keep your bump stock. (Of course, I don't know how that'd work out on a practical basis with the 90 day time period, b/c there's no way that all of those requests can get processed that fast.)
 
*The article is sloppy here, as usual: Full auto weapon ownership isn't banned, just restricted. New manufacture of full auto weapons is banned. And I'm not sure this order puts bump stocks into that area. Would be interesting to read an informed article on it.

In some instances I agree.  In this case, leaving the Kurds to die in exchange for Erdogan shutting up about MBS, and entirely ceding Syria to the Russians, is not a strategy for long term success.  Syria may have been unwinnable in a conventional sense but sticking it out could have eventually beaten both Assad and Putin through attrition.

So we have to go back twenty years to find a "blue lie" from the left, whereas I can open up Twitter and find half a dozen right wing lies that came straight from the White House bathroom this morning.
 
Not that delusional teamballers on the liberal side don't exist, but I'm done with the false equivalence and bothsiderism.
 
Also, the woman you describe was probably talking about the Trans-Balkan Pipeline, which today carries oil and gas from the Caspian to the Adriatic.

Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress tries to stay away from Trump directly, but Pinker admits that Trump's election gave the impetus for the book and he does discuss Trump followers' ability to loudly cheer and repeat whatever insane thing he says. He calls these "blue lies," by comparison with incidents where cops lie to protect each other. Statements are not believed (or at least claimed to be believed) because there is evidence for them, but as a show of loyalty to one team and hatred toward another. For instance, he cites claim circulating in far-right circles that Barack Obama must have known about the 9/11 attacks -- and even been part of the plot! -- because on that day, he stayed away from the White House. Does any sane person need to be reminded that in 2001, was not president! Not even a senator yet? But it's repeated and affirmed to show how deeply one hates him. Likewise, the other alternative facts of the Trumpverse, such as the crowd at his inauguration being the biggest ever. You say it to show the other cultists that you're loyal, and to show contempt for the elites whom you believe feel contempt for people like you.
 
Dean Shomshak

In the defense of various government agencies, they haven't been covering Donald Trump's ass. They've been covering the ass of the President of the United States. Their responsibility is to the office, regardless of what they may think of a given occupant.
 
The conflict many of them are facing is that their first responsibility is to the American Constitution, not the President; and lately those appear to conflict more and more. (Republicans in Congress often seem to conveniently forget that, though.)

Overheard today from a customer:
 
“Trump! Trump! He’s our man! If he can’t do it, no one can! Did you see Trump put Nancy Pelosi in her place yesterday?”

People are depressingly good at rationalizing the abandonment of their claimed beliefs.

So.... on an amusing aside, I've been binge-watching episodes of Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman.  I just watched the episode "Meet John Doe" where Tempus (evil supervillain from the future) uses subliminal control to get elected President.  During his acceptance speech, he says, "My greatest hope is that the former supporters of President Garner will join with me in making this country great again."
 
Makes me wonder where Trump gets his ideas.
 
 

GHWB knew how to make a campaign promise to get elected, and then how to break it in order to govern responsibly. "Read my lips: No new taxes!" But when it became fiscally desirable... he signed a bill into law that raised taxes. I am sure he paid for it politically, but I prefer it to the sort of Republican who thinks deficits are just dandy once they are the ones running them up.
 
He also did good as an ex-president. High point may have been his fundraising with Bill Clinton after the Dec. 26, 2005 earthquake and tsunami. As one pundit put it, in much of the world leaders cling to power no matter what. But here the world saw a leader who had the power to, no kidding, destroy the world if he didn't get his way, who gave up that power without a word of protest. And standing next to the man who beat him to take that world-ending power. Who then left office as gracefully, after seeing his anointed successor lose an election to the son of the man he defeated. Both of them saying, "Help these people, because it's the right thing to do." That, the pundit concluded, is moral authority with teeth.
 
Dean Shomshak

Yeah, I won't count on it, but it was good to see not ALL standards are dead.

Well, we're seeing, as best I can recall, the first serious pushback against Trump, by the Republicans.  This is about the Khashoggi killing.  After a briefing to the Senate that didn't include any CIA representation, and only had Trumpian spin involved, the Senate moved to continue debate on a bill to stop military aid to the Saudis, by a 63-37 vote.  That means QUITE a few Republicans crossed over, including some very big names.  I'm hoping that this starts the ball rolling, to at least curb Trump's worst tendencies.  

I will say this for Trump: he has a sharply-honed instinct for where people are exploitable. But he's so obvious about it! He talks like every snake-oil salesman I ever met. Everything he's involved with is always the biggest, the best, the greatest ever!! Everything he opposes, and everyone who criticizes him, is the worst in history!! He's long on grand promises, ludicrously short on how to make them happen. Every time someone calls him on that lack, he replies, "Trust me." If there's one thing to remember, it's to never take the word of a salesman who asks you to trust him.
 
The only way to not hear it, is to not want to hear it.

STOP. THE. HISTRIONICS.
 
If you have actual information regarding cases that are going before the SCOTUS, feel free to share and comment.  If you continue to conjecture and fear monger, you will be punted.

I am all for an official holiday for election day.

I do hope the voter turnout is big. Thus whatever the result, at least one would be legitimately able to say the people had spoken.
 
I remember during the last referendum on Quebec independence, in 1995, of the 5,087,009 registered voters, 4,757,509 cast ballots, or 93.52%. The tally was 50.58% to 49.42% against separation, a difference of only 54,288 votes. The lead kept changing back and forth throughout the night, the result not officially announced until around 2:00 AM the next morning. I consider it one of democracy's finest hours.

For a moment I read that as "vote or we will pull your teeth", and I was disappointed to realize that it's not what you actually wrote.

Thanks for voting, I appreciate you taking the time and effort.  I'm sorry that it doesn't automatically get you out of the advertising melée.

IME if the worst offender scales down their rhetoric and action, the lesser offender will tend to follow suit.  The reverse is usually not true, however.