TGO David

We're screwed, man. Really we are. People are too selfish and self-centered these days. There is no sense of community anymore. We live in neighborhoods surrounded by people we don't know and in many cases have never really spoken with. We might wave at the neighbor who walks the dog, but we know nothing else about them other than "they have a dog". Without a sense of community, there is no sense of a greater good. Lacking that, it's every man for himself. Lord Of The Flies becomes a way to live, not a cautionary tale.

The Internet makes it entirely possible for a person to pontificate upon matters that they know nothing about, and be taken seriously. I am in the industry about which you speak. We've not sat around twiddling our thumbs for the past 10 months. My company has turned ambulatory surgery centers into COVID treatment facilities, set up COVID testing centers in airports and rented space in cities across the country for COVID testing centers. Only patients requiring life support are being kept in hospitals any longer than absolutely necessary. The best course of action is to send them home to recuperate and self-isolate. You don't build FEMA camps for that. But, if we did build FEMA camps for it... something tells me you'd decry them as well.

There is actually strong science behind what you described and it has a lot to do with duration of exposure, the number of infected people in very close proximity to you, airflow, ambient temperature, ambient humidity, and a slew of other factors. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has put together a pretty amazing tool that allows you to explore how the factors interplay with each other to increase or decrease your risk in various settings. https://www.mit.edu/~bazant/COVID-19/

Auctions are the purest form of the free market.

I hope you're right, Darrell... but I have a feeling that a lot of folks we are counting on to hold the line won't be there.

TGO Friends; Well, it is here again and probably none too soon for some of us and all too soon for others. This year has been... interesting... to say the least, but as I pause and think about the reason for Christmas, I am still very grateful and can say that the good still shines brighter than the bad is capable of blotting out. Even when I consider the loss of friends that our community has endured this year, I can confidently say that I still believe that we were better to have known them and enjoyed their company while we could, than we would be had that never happened. I am going to try to peel myself away from the Internet for the next few days and spend the time watching my kids and my first grandchild enjoy the wonders and mysteries of Christmas. I hope you will not be offended in the least if I say that I hope I don't see many of you on here for the next 36-48 hours either... but at the same time I wouldn't blame you a bit if i do. Let's face it: TGO is as much a group a close friends and honorary extended family as it is anything. Perhaps even more than anything else. So if we do happen to bump into each other here over the holidays... well, let's just enjoy the fact that we are merely being close to those whom we choose to be close to. After all, you don't get to choose your real family but most of us gladly make the choice to include each other here in our days and nights. As always, if you are unable to celebrate the holidays because of work - THANK YOU. No matter what it is you do, thank you. Whether it is working patrol as a police officer, a hospital floor as a nurse, doctor or some other role, a utilities company as an engineer or technician, an IT job as a herder of cats and conqueror of ones and zeros, or wearing the uniform of our armed services or some other first responder, or even as the clerk at a gas station or a waitress at a 24/7/365 greasy spoon... THANK YOU. Whatever your job, whatever your role, if it keeps you there instead of at home on Christmas, I appreciate you. For the rest of you, I hope that you find comfort, peace, relaxation and restoration in the days ahead. Whether you are surrounded by family or friends, or enjoying the peace and quiet of solitude, I hope that it is in a place that you prefer doing what you wish to be doing. MERRY CHRISTMAS, TGO! Thank you for being a bright spot in an otherwise dark year. Let's be sure that we are all here for each other in 2021. It's probably going to be more nuts than we can imagine. Yikes. On behalf of the moderating team, --David

China is the largest threat our country faces. If our dip#### politicians are successful in disarming us, either because China is controlling their puppet strings directly or indirectly, we are screwed. Never forget that Japan was fearful of our "rifles behind every blade of grass" during WWII. So is China.

I made a small tweak that might diminish the size of it slightly, but otherwise it's working as designed. It is a nag message. It's the small price a person pays to use TGO for free.

Hell yes, your dog should comment. She probably has the most to lose if BATFE shows up on your property.

This is the way it's done here to keep the site appealing to the most people. When I drive past a landfill I don't think, "OH BOY! I WANT TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME HERE!" and neither do most sane people. I roll up my windows, hit the recirculation button on my truck's A/C and hope I don't get saturated with stench. If you have ever spent any time on a forum where they don't moderate things as evenly as we try to here, it's like hanging out in a pile of weeks old rotten food, dirty diapers and other refuse. You need a shower after spending 5-10 minutes amongst it. This shouldn't mystify you.

Y'all need Ritalin.

I can't even imagine the amount of BS that man and his people have had to tolerate this year. My hat is off to them.

We absolutely cannot be satisfied with this garbage. Arbitrary "on the field" decisions predicated upon an individual agent's or office's understanding of a directive and opinions on a matter, are DANGEROUS and legally unsound. Bear in mind that a person who buys a bare lower receiver, or one with a buffer tube but no stock or brace, for an AR-15 should, generally speaking, be the owner of a "firearm" without classification for pistol or rifle. It should be legal for that person to build either a rifle or a pistol, so long as the remainder of the components used align with the current [and absurd] ATF regulations. If that person chooses to build a pistol and put a brace on it, that should be viewed as having been done in good faith. But, will it? This whole thing is utter trash. The current head of the BATFE is an anti-gun tyrant and should be unemployed. The BATFE should be dismantled and its duties assigned done away with or assigned to more appropriate agencies with better oversight and governance.

Ah, but you've been around since practically the beginning and you have an insight on matters, based on job experience, that lends a certain creedence to your divergence from the popular opinion of things.

Here's a small secret: I don't like banning people. It is an absolute last resort for me unless the account is just a scammer, spammer or troll account. The moderators generally exhaust a lot of options before they finally make the decision to ban someone. I've watched them put up with far more nonsense out of belligerent individuals than I would. Note that I chose not to call them "members". I feel like the members of the community are the folks who contribute and largely who we've all come to to know (or will come to know with time) as friends and extended family. A person who comes here just to cause strife or participate in verbal mud-slinging isn't a member. My own level of tolerance, though, is admittedly lower than that of the moderators - and I still try really hard not to rush toward banning as a solution to a problem. However, I know very well the danger of allowing a toxic individual to poison the well. Their toxicity spreads quickly and becomes septic to the entire community if allowed to continue for very long. I have zero problems banning poisonous, toxic individuals just the same as I'd have no problem stomping on a disease infested rat or letting a doctor cut a cancer out of my own body. BTW - My wife ignores me a lot. That's when I sneak in a discussion about buying a new gun.

HA! I am going to have to keep you on speed dial. You're very welcome. I appreciate you and the others who keep us going with good conversation.

LOL! Ya'll are terrible. If you can't post yet it's only because the software is trudging along and taking its sweet time updating accounts. At this point it's a race between the software and the USPS to see who can deliver the slowest.

Maybe we move it after the forum software finishes flagging folks to be able to participate. It's a slow grind right now, but I am also purging accounts of people who haven't visited in a few years.

Registered 9 hours ago, immediately in this thread... proxy IP address.

The software is really still cranking away at giving people access. It's doing a lot of tabulating against the entire catalog of members and their posts.

I appreciate y'all who have offered to pitch in. I'm really not going to take anyone up on that. I think it's just effective for an unwanted person to see just how many people are willing to pay to make them go away. If he ever had delusions that people enjoyed being subjected to his verbal vomiting... now he knows the truth.

17 round, G17 sized. It's actually really easy to conceal that with the right holster and belt. I've carried my G45 (17rd grip) all summer and worn shorts and a t-shirt. Not difficult and honestly fits my hand and allows recoil management better than a Glock 19 (15rd grip).

RIght? It happened in 2012 right after Sandy Hook too.

You can tongue-punch my fart hole, too. The work I've done this afternoon to restructure the forums and set new restrictions is because of you and a few others who have used TGO as a dumping ground for your biases, ignorance and opinionated yet misinformed bloviations. I refunded your membership because it's worth it to get rid of you. I hope Santa brings you a whole big bag of dicks.