JTHunter

In reading the news feeds tonight, there was an article about this (I didn't keep the link) that talked about these 2 paired cases and that there were over 20 states that have already joined on or the other of these two filings. Things are definitely heating up. 🤔 😄

Smart move. Good for you.

This is actually from about 20 years ago and I just recently found it again. Death of Democracy At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution in the year 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about "The Fall of the Athenian Empire" some 2,000 years prior. "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship." "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From Bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage." Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts from the 2000 Presidential election: Population of counties won by: Gore = 127 million - - - Bush = 143 million Square miles of land won by: Gore = 580,000 - - - Bush = 2,427,000 States won by: Gore = 19 - - - Bush = 29 Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Gore = 13.2 - - - Bush = 2.1 Professor Olson adds: "In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare...." Olson believes the U.S. is now somewhere between the 'complacency' and 'apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy; with some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the 'governmental dependency' phase.

Considering how "effectively" the Mexican police are doing their jobs, maybe THEY should be the ones sued.

IOW, just a way to pile on more charges and penalties.

That may be so Mike but you saw me at IGold and took that picture of the back of my shirt as I sat over on the end of the bleachers near the doors. You may not have "asked" for a persons age but the type of questions asked more readily lend themselves to a younger and more technically astute audience. Like I said, I don't own a smartphone or tablet and am not a fan of ANY app out there, even if it can be put on a desktop computer. In the 29 years that I have been online, I have had only ONE instance of a malfunction due to malware. And that was in an email from a relative ! It screwed up my XP laptop that I was using as my desktop was in for some repairs. The relatives Win. 98 machine was knocked completely off line and we had to reload 98 and all of the other software. Fortunately, very little was actually lost as I was at their home frequently enough to have done back-ups to an external HD. My laptop just had the desktop picture messed up and, the AT&T tech (working remotely) and I were able to correct the problem in less than an hour. And that was about 18 years ago and I've been even more cautious ever since.

I looked for one at IGold this year and they weren't there. If it is the shirt Jimster is talking about, it is either an ash gray or khaki shirt with the outline of ILL-ANNOY on the front with a holstered handgun over that outline. My ash gray one is toast and the khaki is still in reasonably good shape but I wanted a replacement. I was disappointed. ☹️

Okay. I didn't think of that one.

36.7% - 22/60 Several of those "agree/disagree" questions I answered "neither" and only got 2 of 4 points. One question - "I have a living situation that makes it uncomfortable to get firearms-related postal mail." - I answered strongly disagree as I live alone and don't have to worry about the mail. That got me ZERO points. 😡 Then, I don't have a smartphone so I can get an app for it. They didn't like that either. And I still write paper checks as I prefer that to using a credit card - zero points. This survey was meant for those 25-45 age group that only uses "plastic" on their "smartphones", etc. Screw them.

How do books get treated by a couple of "bookends"?

That man does have a way with words !! Good video.

I thought there were only 3 boxes - the Ballot box, the Jury box, and the AMMO box.

Yeah. I remember the crowds in 2012 & '13, the first years I went. Wasn't in '13 they estimate there were about 8K in the march?

GOOD GRIEF !! Is it time for the "third box"??

Mike - I would "guesstimate" about a thousand based on what I could see on the floor and in the bleachers. It maybe that with the economy in the shambles it is in, people are more concerned about keeping their jobs and paying their bills take precedence. It might also be that many, esp. the older people, are losing "heart" that this state will ever change. Looking at the way legislative districts are currently drawn is a great example of "gerrymandering".