TMF

Attended a New Year's feast in a strange land. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  You're just gonna hurt your brain if you continue.

  Yep.  I'm no longer willing to carry a 1911 IWB.  Makes my jeans too tight and need to poop.  Not willing to go up another size because it will just encourage me to be fat.

  Yeah, but luckily that kinda stuff is pretty obvious.  I have a strong opinion of the use of those things over private property in invasive manners, but I recall several years ago a neighborhood boy crashed one into the trees in my backyard and had to come to my door to let me know.  It didn't bother me one bit that it was on or over my property; kids just enjoying their toys is fine.  But when people are using it for nefarious purposes they deserve to have their crap knocked out of the sky.

[quote name="Jonnin" post="1127565" timestamp="1395342766"] GPS is a wonderful thing, but it has some flaws. First, the antenna has to be just so or they get muddled. Second, to get altitude, it needs extra satellite connections. Its not hard to make a beacon that deploys in an accident, but until fairly recently, it was expensive. A decade ago (probably the majority of planes are at least this old..) a high res gps, in a deployment system and all, you were talking 10 grand or more in materials and then, because its the bloody aviation industry, 10X that cost to get it certified to be installed on planes. Now, the hardware costs nothing (gps is cheaper) and it would still cost 100 grand to certify it, if not more. [/quote] There are no flaws. These devices are already in plenty of aircraft and transmit short burst data to the iridium architecture. While I agree that altitude requires more satellites, the altitude is relatively inconsequential in regard to determining its last known location. If we had that we would have known where the plane went down almost immediately. Not to mention, there are so many damn satellites in the constellation to get a GPS sample, and a 56 channel GPS receiver is standard and cheap nowadays. There are a whole lotta aircraft that already do this. There is no argument against it, especially when you have over 200 people and a gigantic aircraft that is not only missing, it will never be found. And, yeah, air worthiness for US commercial aircraft costs money, but considering this is something already in airframes, and that air worthiness tests are a drop in the bucket in terms of costs it doesn't make an argument against it. Not when you'll be paying out the nose later for a lost aircraft and all those bodies that won't be recovered, and the lawsuits which will bankrupt the airline. So, in terms of passenger confidence, the only thing worse than the thought of dying in a plane crash is the thought that no one will ever know what happened to you or where you crashed. This could all be avoided with a device that costs as much as an iPhone. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[quote name="tnguy" post="1127530" timestamp="1395339903"]Now, GPS or not, what I don't understand is why there isn't some kind of beacon designed to deploy if a plane goes down at sea. Of course, if theories are to believed, the plane may not have gone down and an explosion could destroy such a device but still.[/quote] Wouldn't matter. If they had a global device that regularly updated its position they would know the last known location before it went down. Doesn't matter if the device was destroyed, it would turn a search area the size of half the world into a search area the size of a county, depending on how quick they get there. Operating costs for fleet vehicles to update their position on similar devices can run between $20-$40/month. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wait, there are people in Maine with tattoos??? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[quote name="R_Bert" post="1127533" timestamp="1395340057"]in our eyes, indeed they are beyond forgiveness and repentance. And what they do deserve is what you describe, But, so does Paul, whom Jesus confronted on the Damascus road. and me. Paul and I changed. Hopefully they will also.[/quote] They have the option to change for their own benefit, but they don't deserve forgiveness from society. For me, there are some things that are just unforgivable. Going to a funeral and telling parents or the wife and kids of a fallen soldier that "God hates your tears" or "Thank God for IEDs" is so heinous that I can't fit it into words. The saddest thing about Phelps passing peacefully is that I won't have the opportunity to chain him to my truck and see how long it takes asphalt to turn human garbage into hamburger. That was the one thing I had to look forward to if I was terminally ill. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[quote name="R_Bert" post="1127524" timestamp="1395339362"]I am thinking "pray for the souls he left behind", especially his family (but also victims); that they not continue in the path blazed by the old man.[/quote] The family that stood by him are beyond forgiveness. The disrespect during funeral services shown to the families that lost their sons and daughters should earn the Phelps clan shunning from society. They deserve to live out the rest of their lives in lonely misery, like their patriarch, then die alone and unwanted by society. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Congrats to your boy! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'll be okay if today is the last time I have to hear about this disrespectful sumbitch. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

  I think there is the possibility that the utility workers embelished their story to 911.    "This guy came out with a gun and was yelling at us to get off his property...."     Think how 911 is going to relay that to officers.

  This is the best observation to come out of this.

  After encounter the first house bourne IED we blew the doors on everything.  Watching a 2 story concrete structure collapse and kill nearly a dozen guys will make you take precautions. 

C'mon guys, just think about how many lives the ATF save by getting all these hunks of innocuous plastic off the streets.  Clearly this is the choice weapon of gangbangers who are in their garage milling these out, then ordering all the parts and tools to assemble them so they can use them in drive bys and stuff.  No gangbanger would just simply buy one off the black market and remove serial numbers, thus giving him the same tool intended for use in illegal activities.   But seriously, if there was concern by the ATF of these being used in crime, they shouldn't care, since stupid criminals would screw up the process anyway and build crappy rifles that wouldn't function properly or at all.   I know, I know.  This has nothing to do with stopping criminals.  This has to do with stopping otherwise law abiding and moral people from having an inanimate object.

  They've always been publicized by the White House.  Every. Single. One.

  Rule change?  What rules changed???  These guys simply had their cases reviewed.  They weren't the only ones in the 2002 NDAA that did.  They reviewed hundreds and found 24 that had their MoH downgraded to a DSC due to errors or prejudice.  No rules changed whatsoever.  This has been going on back when you were still playing cops and robbers.  There have been over 50 more since 1980 who have had their cases reviewed and awarded the MoH.  What is different????  Seriously?    Is your problem with this the reason why they were orginially denied?  That shouldn't matter.  Of the other 50 who received their belated MoH's in the past 30 years there were a string of reasons why their was denied or downgraded.  The reason why shouldn't matter; it should just matter that it was.   So to be clear, for the 50 other people who were awarded belated MoHs in the past 30 years under other presidents are cool, but the 19 who had theirs denied because they were black, hispanic or Jewish shouldn't have?  Is that what I'm getting?

  Every MoH ceremony has been like that since I was old enough to watch them.  Lots of fan fare; the way it should be.  It is a big deal, and I get a warm fuzzy when it is made a big deal.  I also like to hear about people who have been wronged in the awards process be vindicated.  Doesn't matter to me why they got screwed initially; getting screwed is the problem.  So there were MoH submittals on guys that got denied due to race.  There are also submittals that got denied because the GO in the CoC was a douche and didn't like the guy.  Both are criminal as far as I'm concerned, and I like it when stuff like that gets fixed.   Right now I know a few guys who should have a minimum of a Silver Star.  They had their awards downgraded for stupid reasons.... really stupid reasons.  If those reasons happened to be racial I don't suppose it would piss me off any more or less.  I would just want to see a wrong righted.    The press is of no consequence in this.  They are gonna latch on to racial aspects of stories because divisive news sells more clicks on their website.  Got it, the press sucks.  I don't see Obama giving this any more or less attention than any other MoH ceremony he has done.  I've watched all the ones that I could.  In this case there were 24 all getting awarded simultaneously.  That would be significant no matter the circumstances.   At any rate, the award itself was not exclusionary.  Obama had nothing to do with who got what and when.  His only say in the matter would have been when the ceremony took place, and even then, that would be his schedule guy that figures all that stuff out.  In regards to an MoH ceremony, the President is of no consequence.  The recipient is going to get it one way or the other, and the President will always, ALWAYS, be the less significant character in the room.

  You've repeatedly argued that it was this administration responsible for the awards given and that it is exclusive.  I pointed to the 2002 NDAA that authorized the review into the records of these 24 people.  Was Obama involved in that review or something?  What does Obama have to do with this?  Also, it isn't exclusive.  You have failed to show how this excluded anyone based on race.  Lt Connor has nothing to do with this.  His award was submitted and denied in a completely different manner, just like hundreds of other MoH submittals for people of every race, color and creed.    I would go so far as to point out that there were 5 other non-ethnic awardees who had their records reviewed and were upgraded to an MoH, because of some mistake from the original submittal, so that debunks the idea that this was exclusionary.  Then I pointed out how there have been 4 other MoH belated MoH awards issued since Obama took office which were authorized review under similar NDAA strap hangers.  For some reason you haven't acknowledged any of that.  Why?

  I don't think you're doing it intentionally.  I think you're allowing other issues to cloud your judgement, and the result is you're disrespecting these heroes.  I'm offended for them.

  Okay, and a few posts up I admitted the possibility that I am wrong that you have racial hangups which are causing you to ignore facts, and asked you to provide us with the actual reason.   And I'm not insinuating that you're a racist.  I know what a racist is.  I've met a few.  Using a racial slur or disliking a race specific culture doesn't equal a racist.  Being a racist, in my opinion, is an absolute.

  Then your thread should focus on how CNN can't report their way out of a wet paper bag.  That I can get on board with.  However, CNN has nothing to do with the awards process.  Short of handing out the Medals, neither does the President.  Could you or anyone else point to an MoH write up that was ever, ever, ever, ever ever denied by any President?  I don't believe that it has ever happened.  By the time it reaches his office the whole thing has been bona fide, just like the Thanksgiving turkey.   If this thread was simply about how messed up the media is in regard to focusing on racial issues for the purpose of being devisive, then I can see that.  From the original post until now you've attempted to argue that it is the awarding of the Medals themselves which is the racially motivated issue.  Remove that part from the equation.  It doesn't exist.  I've proven to you and everyone reading this that it doesn't. 

  Thanks for clearing that up.   On another note, I hate it when tragedy becomes a circus of media and internet whackadoos, no matter what the circumstances.  I guess the families are probably going through so much pain that they don't even register the tsunami of nonsense going on in the background.

  I'm going to ask you very directly to quote where I put out any misinformation regarding these recipients of the Medal or the process for receiving the award.    While you're at it, point out where anyone called you a racist.

  Geez, I thought that was originally sarcasm aimed at the other post, as to highlight and satirize Americans' bloodlust in their news cycle.