Don

Quick question about the subsidies, as I haven't been able to find a reasonable answer anywhere. I know I should be able to qualify for an insurance subsidy, but do I have to pay the non-subsidized premium every month, then wait until tax season to be reimbursed, or do I have to pay what the premium would be after the average monthly subsidy? I.E. $200/month, with $1800 coming back to me next year, or $50/month straight up? I only ask because this will pretty much determine whether or not I sign up in the next two days.

I think we can pretty much rule out this being an act of organized terrorism or a hijacking. There would have been a claim of responsibility if it were a terrorist attack, and there would have been demands and a landing if it were a hijacking. So, we've got a few possibilities:

1.) A crazy person (not part of a terrorist organization) blew up the plane mid-flight, perhaps over-doing it a bit by bringing enough explosives to take out an aircraft carrier.

2.) One of the pilots just put the stick down for whatever reason (depression, religion, schizophrenia, hallucinogens).

3.) Pilot disorientation leading to a crash. Perhaps a loss of instruments in the middle of the night over the ocean.

4.) Sudden breakup due to some sort of mechanical or structural issue.

5.) Some sort of slow, unnoticeable fatal issue, such as the gradual depressurization scenario described earlier.

6.) Some country's Air Force shot the plane down without realizing it was a passenger jet, and is a bit embarrassed.

The biggest problem we have now though is all of the conflicting location possibilities. At this point, we're all reasonably confident that this plane is somewhere in a triangle between Madagascar, the Eastern Himilayas, and Fiji.

yeah, there's a real fascinating psychology to all of this. probably some similarities psychologically to the helsinki symdrome (or whatever it's called) where captive people start to empathize with their captors. 

 

on a weirdly related side note, my singing group is going to be singing at a women's prison in north carolina in a couple of sundays from now. i hope our single guys are on their guard.

I think that's true in some cases, Tank. But I also think it's a lot simpler in other cases. A lot of dudes in the criminal justice system develop a pretty masculine look and persona. And just as guys tend to be attracted to women with more feminine qualities, girls tend to be attracted to guys with more masculine qualities. I think it really could be that simple.

It's path of least resistance. Dealers and gangs fight back. Entrapping needy high schoolers is much safer.

That's a part of it certainly, but I think there are other, more insidious things involved as well. First of all, the cops in these school stings aren't necessarily going after drug dealers, as much as they're attempting to turn kids into drug dealers in order to make arrests. Thus, the logic is that turning kids into drug dealers, leaving them with a criminal record and limiting their access to a decent education system, somehow improves the lives of children and their community.

The second part is that this sort of behavior betrays the trust that kids should have in their administrators and local law enforcement. And, in my opinion, good communities are the ones that have (justified) trust in their educational and law enforcement institutions. That's not good for any of those three parties going forward.

Mulder and Scully will figure it out

I didn't even realize how x-files-ish this was until you said it. Literally everything that's happened so far would work in a typical x-files plot.

The dishonesty of this practice bothers me quite a bit. Because of this kid's issues, the story is getting national attention; but it's still a shame that this happens to "normal" kids. It does nothing to benefit them, the school, or the community. And I would argue that it's actually a negative for all three. The only people that benefit are the police, who can pad their stats with chickenshit arrests like these and better help their chance at federal grants. So really, the schools and police are colluding to ruin the lives of young people in order to get funding for local police, then sell it as an attempt to protect the very children they're exploiting. That's straight up evil.

The public is not going to be helping them find the aircraft so what they know when really is meaningless.

Not in any official capacity, but it wouldn't hurt to give a heads up to fisherman or other non-military vessels in the area.

I'm beginning to think a government entity shot it down. 

 

Malaysia is either utterly incompetent or purposely misleading search teams because they're now claiming it showed up on radar over a different body of water on the west side.  This revelation came just today, which screams cover up.  Real radar info should have been available immediately.

I'm not ready to leap to that conclusion, but it is really strange that they held back that information for so long. How could withholding that info from the public help them find the aircraft more quickly?

Thanks for posting.

 

A very real and head shaking look at our police forces and justice system. Reading the responses of the officers and explanations is disturbing, but completely accurate of day to day operations.

 

Tough read as having someone close that works with kids of all types and backgrounds, the long term effects to these kids is very serious and real.

 

I hope this picks up steam.

I agree that the response almost bothers me more than the actual operation. It would be one thing if this happened and the police, school administrators, and DA said, "Wow, we really screwed up here. Maybe we should rethink our approach to these issues." The fact that they're staunchly defending their position and continuing these programs while spewing their "for the safety of our kids" BS is disgusting.

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-entrapment-of-jesse-snodgrass-20140226

Already started a thread on this in the political forum, but I'm a little fired up about this one,

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-entrapment-of-jesse-snodgrass-20140226

I read about this in The Press Enterprise when it happened, and I'm glad it's finally getting national attention. I hope the RCSD is proud of themselves.

Mike DiGiovanna ‏@MikeDiGiovanna 13m

Tony Phillips, 54, worked out for #Rangers MGR Ron Washington in Angel Stadium today. Tony hopes to play winter ball in Dominican Republic.

Did anyone happen to check out what was happening at the Ivanhoe Inn last night?

I take that simile to mean that I can't post while pooping for a few months?

Hi all. I've been lurking for a few months, but I hadn't created a new profile since the board changed over to its current format. Anyhow, I posted here quite a bit as djags45 in the past. I'm not sure if it's possible, but if any of you know how I can get my older post counts back, please let me know. I wish all of you well.