"We then excuse our dissonance and our want to like Obama by kidding ourselves that he has made good on at least some of his promises. But has he? Take healthcare, his prized accomplishment, for example: it's a watered-down reform that kowtows to the interests of healthcare lobbies before it provides meaningful, secure access to healthcare for our society's most desperate." - Abdul El-Sayed 2012

A message from the Secretary, @justin4OR Be glad there are Greens on your ballot!

DS: "I don't trust any of these people. Where I am more optimistic than I've been before is that you have in polls, voters saying they do not trust the Democratic Party leadership. Even liberal voters." BJG: "And should we tell them they're right and that they should vote third party?"

My opinion on the death of the Airman at the football game. Firstly, let me stress, this is my OPINION. I am not trained in these maneuvers, but I do have experience in the military and Air Force specifically. The first thing I want to address is where I vehemently disagree with a lot of people claiming that these types of demonstrations shouldn't be performed at sporting events. Military demonstrations are one of the only meaningful things that happens at sporting events. In the grand scheme of things sports are entertainment. Military recruitment is actually something that matters. That said, I'm not saying I agree with everything about the military, recruitment, or geopolitical policy. But that is a post for another day. The other major problem I have is what went wrong. Again, I am not an expert at rappel (the method used here) or fast roping. But I was a trained firefighter and spent a lot of time around search and rescue teams that were. It is my opinion that someone (not the Airman) decided to use a rappel apparatus instead of doing a fast rope maneuver. Likely because they are generally a lot safer and more predictable. However (and this is the part that will remain speculation until confirmed), it looks like the Airman was going too fast for a proper one-man rappel. My guess is that he was trained and familiar with fast rope, and tried to achieve the same dramatic effect for the audience. The problem with that, is the amount of force required to brake on a rappel, increases with speed, and once you reach a certain velocity, you cannot stop. Some images and videos also clearly show smoke coming from the area around the harness or hands. This appears to be a leadership failure. It looks like someone told this fast-roper to rappel without proper training or rehearsal. The third thing is the most heartbreaking. This man fell to his death around thousands of people. Almost no one appeared to care. The band kept playing, the cheerleaders mostly kept cheering, the fans were all complacent. I understand some were in shock. But even after they recovered the victim, they kept the game going like nothing happened as one of our service men died right in front of everyone. Society seems to really care about celebrating veterans and fallen soldiers, but when one literally dies in front of them, they just want to get back to the game. The other thing I want to mention is something more sinister. All of the reports that initially came out suggested that he was "injured". It is my opinion, they did this for optics. They didn't want to ruin the game or look bad. So, they had to wait until much later to tell people how bad it really was. This is, unfortunately, a perfect symbol for the current degenerated society we now live in. I'm sorry for the family and friends of the one who lost his life and then got metaphorically spit on by America as he died.

They have to sneak to tell me how they really feel.

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