Gromnir

am having a weakness for those short ribs braised in root beer or dr. pepper. we would eat short ribs more frequent, but am convinced that we lose a week o' our life every time we consume 'em-- so good and so bad at same time. HA! Good Fun!

I'm way more than 100x wealthier than when I started. I started around zero, and now I have, like, way more than that. I should be president! Vote Hurlsot! poor people save and invest money for a car. they save money and invest for a down payment on a house. if they is a bit better off, they save and invest for college for kids and retirement. poor and middle-class never have enough money, which is why we don't call the poor, "rich." rich people save and invest money to make more money. a s&p fund is an extreme conservative investment, and over near 40 years, if the money generated is constant reinvested, the growth is exponential. however, your efforts is pointless. HA! Good Fun!

Drowsy was right. The media, the BLM movement, Al Sharpton and his ilk, Hillary Clinton and even Obama have been whipping this up into a frenzy in a cynical attempt to gin up election year fury and now they are losing control of it. They don't mean for the people they are deliberately infuriating to start killing cops but that is of small comfort to the families. We have a criminal justice system that deals with cops who kill people for no good reason. The cop in South Carolina is facing life in prison for shooting and unarmed man in the back. But BLM can't even call this justice because the seven cops that have been murdered didn't shoot anyone. It's just unreasoning anger that has been deliberately stoked/ to be fair, the system does make it difficult to prosecute cops who do bad. any 8-year-old knows that one o' the worst sins possible is to snitch. honor codes at prep schools, universities and military academies is utter nonsense. how many of us who went to university were at least aware o' a fellow student cheating at some point? did you rat on the cheater? honor code likely made it your duty to do so. you don't snitch on people you don't like, much less giving up a team member. no doubt gd played a sport, yes? team stuff stays team stuff, or you is no longer welcome on the team. we all marvel (or pretend to marvel) at how penn state could protect jerry sandusky for so long. as horrendous as the example were, we wish we could be more surprised. police forces and military is even more protective than college and pro teams. so, when the only other reliable witness to cop badness is a fellow cop, how likely is even a good cop gonna rat out his brother? am thinking there is no mystery that judges presumptive trust cops and prosecutors know just how difficult it is to get a jury to convict a cop. *chuckle* even more fundamental is police is 'posed to carry guns. when narrative includes a police officer drawing his weapon, the legal finder o' fact needs to be convinced o' the drawing and firing the weapon were the incorrect choice. when a civilian draws a weapon on an armed police officer, or attacks an armed police officer with fists or knives, there is an understandable presumption that the soon-to-be-victim were making a mistake. *shrug* shady posted an article talking'bout the dangers o' environmental flaws in police departments. we didn't complete agree with the article, but there is also truth in the notion that various environments can become breeding grounds for shoddy and unethical behavior. the racial element were overplayed a bit, but any close-knit group, particularly when one is dependent on a team mentality, can have bad behaviors spread like a virus. had a friend stuck prosecuting firemen a few years ago. one local firehouse just went... bad. is not as if the firemen were committing arson or anything, but there were widespread negligence and even some odd all-night sex-party stuff. am doubting most o' the individual firemen were bad, but if everybody else is doing it, and code o' silence prevents you from speaking out 'bout it... am thinking changes need be made to policing. constitutional should not be the only bar on police excess. state and local needs get far more active in setting limits on the appropriate use o' force for cops, 'cause at the moment, the 'mount o' perceived danger to a cop before it is ok for him/her to discharge a weapon at center-mass o' suspect is small... negligible. and guess what, given the current environment, even more situations is gonna create reasonable fear for cop safety. ... biggest possible problem can't be fixed. we got ubiquitous handguns in this country. any suspect can be armed. whether a suspect is armed or not is almost incidental 'cause police fear that Doug or Vince were reaching for a gun instead o' wallet or registration or asthma inhaler is gonna be real in many situations. the conflict ain't just a creation o' the media. in part 'cause o' economic reasons, blacks is suspects more than other racial groups. cops is anticipating violence when dealing with suspects. cops should expect violence when dealing with suspects. cops ain't supermen. cops is people. doesn't take a genius to realize how likely things is gonna get deadly and bloody when two civilians is confronting each other in a heated situation and at least one has a gun, but we act surprised when a cop and a civilian gets in a confrontation and one ends up dead... and guess who is most likely to die? fundamental changes is needed. is not all just imaginary. even so, we do agree some in the media does obfuscate facts and distract the dialogue. far more progress could be made if the media as a whole were responsible. however, the media has always been advocates o' social change as well as at least giving the illusion o' dispassionate presentation o' the facts. am not certain we want the media to censor itself to such a degree, even when they is wrong. whole 'nother set o' problems. am not concerned with the advocacy as long as the media actual tries to get facts straight. that line does blur a bit. HA! Good Fun!

val clear knows finance to the same degree he understands history and law. am gonna suggest to pidesco that he gives up trying to explain why water is wet. gonna need explain basics o' the standard and poor's index funds as well as a primer 'bout how how one can reinvest gains if you is gonna make any headway... and after going through the hassle o' education, it still won't matter. the only person you is gonna be arguing with is val, so is no genuine point continuing. invest +$40 million in a s&p index fund back in late 70s has trump worth +$5-$6 billion. today, trump is worth 'tween $2.5-$4.5 billion. trump's business genius resulted in less wealth than he woulda' had if he followed the advice o' the most cautious o' financial planners available to him when he inherited. that being said, trump has been successful with his real estate ventures. not wanna make it seem as if trump is a complete buffoon when it comes to business. is just far too many failures in business for us to be impressed by donald's keen mind. HA! Good Fun!

am agreeing with you. it would be wrong to blame blm for the police shootings, but you may not have chosen the best way to highlight your point. much o' the blm movement uses phrases such as "epidemic" to describe police violence being perpetrated 'gainst black americans. as we highlighted in another thread, sentiments such as, "As a black man, my only natural predator is a cop. Other things might kill me, the cop is the only one who acts like it’s his job," is voiced by blm pundits and blm mouthpieces. blm exists not simple to point out the individual bad cops who do bad things, but to point out the systemic flaws in the US justice system disproportionately victimize our black populace. blaming the system, blaming cops in general, is exact what blm does. black americans got some legit reasons to be angry, but that is the danger o' blm-- it is a movement born o' anger, frustration and hopelessness. anger can easily be misdirected. worse, every large movement is gonna attract a few extreme advocates. start with anger and add extreme... top off with mental health issues and/or simple social isolation. what makes the situation worse is in spite o' the fact that blm soundly and vigorous condemns violence 'gainst police, elements w/i bl has used words such as "martyr" to describe the dallas shooter. pro football players is posting images o' cops having their throats cut to their social media. blm can condemn all it wants, but many of its members is creating heroes outta those who do violence unto cops. regardless, the blm movement has a foundation built 'pon the notion that the US system o' justice, as a whole, is broken and unfair. there is indeed an inherent blanket blm condemnation o' cops, which ain't complete unjustified. nationwide changes can and should be considered. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

well, if you wanna teach students 'bout abuses o' habeas corpus, you can always use the bestest example o' a President who wantonly and flagrant ignored such protections: abraham lincoln. ... we will be looking to hear 'bout the un-american middle-school teacher from the bay area. HA! Good Fun!

Perfectly fine. our initial reaction is to be suspicious o' the results. one wonders what questions were actual asked... have seen crazy numbers in the past that is explained when one sees what respondents were actual questioned. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/17/in-nations-with-significant-muslim-populations-much-disdain-for-isis/ft_15-11-17_isis_views/ HA! Good Fun!

'cause Gromnir weren't born during colonial times, so we would only be guessing. our maternal grandmother was european and we loved her. am suspecting we woulda' liked her and her parents when they first arrived in the USA. probable not the answer you were looking for. regardless, before US were an independent nation and were colonial, the oglala had very little relations with any europeans. a few particular adventurous trappers? dunno. our understanding is that the lakota as a whole were rather dismissive o' europeans for a long time. euros were seen as weak and ignorant and not particular attractive. assumed that the first harsh winter would kill'em, so why bother? 'sides, the lakota were too busy involved in frequent genocidal wars with other tribes who might actual pose a legit threat to be concerned 'bout colonials many hundreds o' miles distant. HA! Good Fun!

Question, if you would get back in time, what would be your perception of European colonists? why are you asking 'bout going back in time? are you wanting us to consider european colonists from the oglala perspective? HA! Good Fun!

I'm willing to concede that I do not know the motivation. Honestly its hard for me to wrap my head around what it must be like to grow up and live in the type of lifestyle of a hardcore/fundamental religion. well, you can ask anybody from sec territory what it is like to be a fan o' tennessee or florida football. from what we can tell, is largely the same kinda thing... but fewer foam fingers for the religious fundamentalists. HA! Good Fun!

that makes no sense. initially the US had no restrictions on immigration. in the absence o' laws prohibiting, an action doesn't sudden become illegal. regardless, most immigration woulda' taken place during the post civil war years, by which time individual states had already created their own immigration laws, and the fed were becoming more involved in immigration as well. even so, the rate o' illegal immigration into the US has always been relative low... in part 'cause it has always been relative easy to immigrate to the US. HA! Good Fun!

what?

coulda' all been prevented with an assault weapons ban. ... no, wait. that doesn't make any sense, does it? HA! Good Fun!

nobody is stopping us either. point? if you don't like our responses, then do better. vp choice for trump is inconsequential. am thinking he needs another well-timed clinton scandal to make it a real race. HA! Good Fun!

are you trying to be ironic? ... you say such ridiculous stuff all the time. who can tell the difference 'tween your wingnut rants and your hyperbole? am often baffled as to whether or not you could possible be serious, so when respond and find that lo and behold you were being genuine, we do feel a deep sadness. HA! Good Fun!

you are, as is so frequent the case, confused. obama did frequent exceed his authority, but that were only 'cause he understood very well what were possible to accomplish with executive orders. obama knew that Congress were unlikely to do anything to stop him. trump... just doesn't get it. continuing with the press stuff, libel is not a fed crime. trump could author executive orders 'til they literal filled the oval office and such stuff would have 0 chance o' getting the Washington Post of his back. obama understood, and that made him dangerous. trump doesn't understand, and that makes him comical... and potential dangerous. am suspecting that when trump discovers how little he can do to alter anything domestically as he wishes, he will turn his attention to foreign affairs. dangerous. HA! Good Fun!

A Trump victory could make everywhere a very interesting place. As in "may you live in interesting times" special kind of interesting. am thinking that the most interesting place to be following a trump election would be the trump household. no doubt the new President would be shocked to learn that there is simple no executive power existing to do many things he wants to do. imaginary address to joint session of Congress: P. Trump: "i don't pay you to tell me what can't be done. any idiot can tell me that he can't do what i want. the next time i talk with you, i expect to hear that i can now sue the Washington Post when they pi$$ me off. if you can't do that, i will find somebody who can." *stunned silence* the first week or so following an election will no doubt be uncomfortable for those people needing explain to President trump that almost everything he wants to do as President would be requiring an Amendment to the Constitution. am foreseeing the awkward necessity o' a professor o' political science from Georgetown being brought in to give the President a middle-school level primer on the fundamentals o' the American system o' government. perhaps start with a few o' those schoolhouse rock videos. (edit: another video) HA! Good Fun!

*sigh* am aware o' what the op were saying. we were observing the irony w/o trying to indulge in another ridiculous gg/sjw nonsense thread. like it, or don't... game or posts. HA! Good Fun!

want freedom o' expression? write a poem, or buy yourself a watercolor set. there is never freedom of expression in a scripted crpg. all your possible responses are written by the obsidian developers. whatever freedom you see in tyranny or any other crpg with scripted dialogues, essential plot points, skill trees, talents and dozens o' other trappings o' the kinda crpg that tyranny clearly is shaping up to be, will only offer freedom o' expression if you buy into the illusion that your choices is meaningful and real. enjoy the game, or don't. you got the freedom to choose. HA! Good Fun!

yeah. we didn't much like the ny giants when we were young, but pretty much like any kid who played defense in the 80s, we idolized lawrence taylor, and we never complete forgave him for that second failed drug test. seemed like such a big deal at the time. maybe it was and we has become numb. dunno. HA! Good Fun!

Testosterone and alcohol. Mutual taunting. Draymond slaps the MSU football player in the face. Cops were across the street and witnessed it. Tough guy football player pressed charges. Draymond even told the cops that he wanted to apologize to the "victim" immediately after the incident. Not like we have a Manziel, Ray Rice, or Ray MacDonald situation here. don't let your fandom get in the way. the "tough guy" football player is 6' and 183lbs. draymond is 6'7 and 230lbs, and at least according to a couple o' accounts, draymond sucker punched the guy. with cops and witnesses present, am not surprised draymond wanted to apologize. am genuine hopeful that the stuff 'bout draymond's entourage having roughed the guy up the previous day and his "scholarship" comments is inaccurate. HA! Good Fun! ps when we first got to california, we literal bumped into ralph sampson at an airport. we both apologized, though it were Gromnir's fault, and then went our separate ways.

so, what exactly is draymond green's problem? didn't he have a reputation as kinda a good guy when off the court? then again, we recall stories o' an acquaintance o' ours, a guy who played for the minnesota vikings during the early 70s. he told us that some o' the bar fights that would routinely occur 'tween players and irate fans after a loss (or a bad win) were responsible for almost as many o' his injuries as on-the-field contact. different times. HA! Good Fun!

that is a reasonable query. https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/88037-dallas-sniper-shootings/?p=1826927 people is nuts. people thinks silly and insane stuff. even educated folks is not immune from ridiculousness http://www.atlredline.com/i-feel-like-prey-1783478245 "As a black man, my only natural predator is a cop. Other things might kill me, the cop is the only one who acts like it’s his job. " the Perception is true-- he genuine believes cops is trying to kill him. 'course if cops treated killing o' blacks as a job, then his more immediate concern should not be fear o' death by cop, but rather fear o' complete and utter cop incompetence. 90 unarmed folks were killed by cops last year. the 90 total is from the washington post as 'posed to many o' the rather spectacularly biased studies which utilize only initial media reports to generate totals. of the ninety, 'bout half o' those killed were black-- more than any other single ethnic group. even so, if police were actively attempting to kill black men, they has been extreme slothful and indolent in their hunting pursuits. in fact, as an african american, you is far more likely to die of complications during surgery (398) than from police shooting, armed or otherwise. no doubt racist doctors is the real bogeyman the author should be concerned 'bout. how many young black men has been killed by racist surgeons? % of blacks dying form complications is higher than whites. racism is the reason... and not 'cause o' less access quality health care and/or relative poor health compared to whites-- higher rates o' diabetes, high blood pressure, alcoholism, etc. prove it ain't so. doesn't matter. the fear is genuine. people, even educated people, will believe ridiculous stuff, particular if other smart people is telling 'em that they have reason to fear. hell, we see laquan mcdonald video and we get queasy. sure, the guy were armed, but is tough to see the knife wielder as any kinda real or immediate threat. but heck, even if you did see a reason for police to shoot mr. mcdonald after his failure to comply with police instructions (maybe you honest believe that a man resisting arrest and brandishing a knife in a populated area can be shot even if he isn't posing an immediate threat to anybody but self. am not seeing it, but we get the argument) what genuine disturbed Gromnir were the narrative the cops spun 'bout the incident and the way the police and union supported the narrative even after video o' the incident were released. laquan did not lunge at cops contemporaneous with being shot. he made no particular aggressive move towards his eventual killer. cop narrative were fabricated. so, were cop willingness to alter narrative an isolated incident, or an endemic issue? if you already do not trust cops, and you see the solidarity o lies to protect a fellow cop... believe as an indian, or hispanic or black man the cops is active out to kill you may sound as ridiculous as finding that 58% o' english teenagers belief in the realness o' sherlock holmes. look at numbers and such a pov won't make sense to many people. but if you are brought up in a community where the relationship with cops is already adversarial and if you has likely already experienced mistaken profiling, it is not difficult to imagine the people who would accept the argument that cops is active out to do you harm. if Gromnir were to put on a wifebeater tank, saggy cropped khaki pants, old vans with white socks and then don our admittedly hideous gargoyle wrath shades... just hang out near a school or a check cashing store. we would not be the least shocked if eventual a cop stopped by to ask us a few questions. heck, dressed as 'bove, we could take our buick outta the garage and then just park on the street near one o' the more notorious drug sale locations in town. am suspecting we would get a visit from cops or local gang bangers in relative short order. anybody know current gang sign for XIV? simply by being a minority in the wrong place, you can gets unwanted cop attention, and the attention maybe be immediate hostile. sure, it makes perfect sense that if you ain't actual doing anything wrong, compliance with police orders is your best bet. do what cops says and chances o' any lasting harm being done to you by the cops is ridiculous small. but people don't make smart decisions when stressed. they don't make smart decisions when angry. stressed and angry people surrounded by a group o' folks is gonna make even worse decisions. by any objective standard, with almost no exceptions, when armed law enforcement gives you instructions, your best course o' action is compliance. you not need give cops more information than your id if you do not wish to. worst Likely case is you get arrested w/o cause... and then released shortly thereafter. annoying, humiliating and ultimately forgettable. resist and harm is gonna occur, and to what purpose? even so, people thinks ridiculous, or they don't think. get stressed and panic. guys such as alton sterling or michael brown, "gentle giants" who likely were not complete innocent and they gots even more o' a perceived reason to panic when cops try to arrest 'em. the current atmosphere in many urban communities is toxic and getting worse. minorities is afraid and hostile towards cops and the cops is obviously more tense. it don't take much imagination to see how such a situation leads to the ridiculous becoming commonplace. the current situation is a bit ludicrous. gonna need accept the perception o' reasonableness from all quarters is experiencing drastic slippage. HA! Good Fun!

we got a preachy-post quota. just one o' those things that you lost the lottery. HA! Good Fun! ps the heart-wrenching number o' homeless people that is mentally ill and/or children is possible the greatest immediate concern we got as we volunteer at a local food bank/shelter and am seeing too many such folks too often. can't believe we left it out o' our post.

gonna disagree with gd... alot. thank god we had collective awakening and finally embraced the transformative civil rights legislation in 1964, eh? couldn't think that the USA were a great country w/o embracing segregation? we go easy with just one example 'cause am sure that by now gd can think o' many others. is not always easy. we take much heat for our love o' country, particular given our origins. on one recent visit to the rez, our rental car were pelted with frozen apples 'til it were complete unfit to drive. apples: red on the outside, but white on the inside. get it? ... were gonna list some o' the stuff we love 'bout the USA, but it would be an extreme long list. folks who read a few o' our posts regarding US free speech compared to the rest o' the world likely got some notion as to how much we value personal freedoms that exist nowhere else in the west, and virtual nowhere else in whole world. regardless, am thinking it is a given that we are one o' those "I LUV 'MURICA!" folks that euros roll their eyes in response to. the thing is, everyday we see things we wanna improve and fix. we wanna transform. we wanna fix infrastructure problems that has US public education becoming second-rate. we wanna fix the situation on the rez where we come from. we believe it is vital to address income inequality before some kinda class struggle is required to bring 'bout change. we wanna address debt crisis before it is too late. etc. more than one o' our changes requires transformation rather than simple minor alterations to the status quo. gonna need make hard choices. but guess what, Americans can transform. Americans, God love 'em, actual believe that they can transform. the capacity to change and belief in our ability to make things better is just one reason why so many people 'round the world is perplexed (and annoyed) by americans. naive and arrogant. foolish. *shrug* could go on 'til folks get (more) sick o' Gromnir than is normal, but we can't stress just how much we disagree with gd on this point. we believe, unreserved and unabashed, that this is a great country, and we hope we live long enough to see it transform... maybe more than once. HA! Good Fun!