gpatt0n

The point is that the USPS is an enterprise that once was a place where political patronage once played a role (government) but is now an enterprise that advertises and competes in its delivery of a service. That criminals have co-opted the service is not unique to the USPS; such instances are and have been observed by UPS and FedEX. UPS Coughs Up $40 Million Because It Delivered Drugs From Rogue Pharmacies While I won't defend the USPS workers who knowingly participated in a criminal enterprise, I won't go so far as to slam the government as being responsible for the criminal acts.

They're not really 'government employees' because the USPS doesn't get any US Tax dollars. I would suggest the oversight by the US Postal inspector as well as a higher level of cooperation between the USPS and investigators is the reason that you're not hearing about it being UPS or FedEx employees. Airline personnel and any number of other 'private enterprise' employees have been involved in drug smuggling and distribution. Hell, police have been involved in drug distribution. pubby

From what I can tell the refineries themselves are on high ground. The issue is going to be getting people to and from them. I suspect the pipelines are pretty secure from the flood as well. I've not seen anything to indicate a massive disruption - you know complete destruction of a refinery as in the thing blowing up and burning because the FD can't get to it. Rather the problem may involve some cleanup and, as much as anything, a return to something closer to a routine for those who man the facilities. I doubt if regular unleaded will top $2.79/gallon as a result ... or it would b

To me this is funny, so funny that when I saw it, I had to steal it from Jeremey Pennock. Does anyone remember him? pubby

<adata-ipb='nomediaparse'href='http://adserv.paulding.com/x1/www/delivery/ck.php?n=a917e73b&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE'target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0"src="http://adserv.paulding.com/x1/www/delivery/avw.php?zoneid=2&cb=INSERT_RANDOM_NUMBER_HERE&n=a917e73b"/></a> Youth arrested in Friday'sIvy Brooke Drive shooting in Dallas (Paulding County, GA) On Thursday August 24, 2017 atapproximately 12:34 PM Deputies with the Paulding CountySheriff’s Office, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, andDeputy Marshals with the United States Marshals ServiceSoutheast Re

Do you really expect Trump to believe any scientific fact? I know I don't. pubby

Since I was playing with adding filters (for starburst effects); I thought I'd get a little artistic. You'll have to click on the image to enlarge to get the full effect. pubby

Zorro: I got about the same shot of the end of the eclipse and captured it from the HD video I was shooting. I added a bit of a filter effect in post to enhance it. Click to enlarge. pubby

Here's a link that talks about that very subject. The big think I found out (that I obviously had forgotten) was that the last eclipse I viewed back in 1963 had its totality in Maine. I remember it because I took a picture of it that 'turned out' ... i.e. showed a little disc cut out of the sun. I was 1000 miles away from the totality but at age 12, it was cool and I was especially proud of a getting a photo of it. As an aside, we ran into a nice family in the park in Dayton - my granddaughter had a time playing with the kids which ranged from younger than her almost five to age 12 o

Got mine at Dayton, TN ... decided that this 'scientific adventure' could be combined with a bit of a historical adventure. So where did you folks see the eclipse. pubby PS: The photos of the full disc, did not need 'filters' ... you can actually gaze at the eclipse in totality. PPS: Click the pictures for an enlargement.

Thanks for posting. Hopes and prayers sent that RM recovers fully. pubby

This response was a reply to a right wing suggestion that the democrats be shut down because of their history as segregationists (in the south.) Changed, no ... evolved. The reason that the right wing has a problem understanding change literally of any kind is because their worldview does not comprehend even the simplest application of the scientific principal of evolution. They just don't know what evolution is. They would recognize it even if it were written in the fossil history of the planet. That is the best explanation I've seen of why conservatives like policies that ma

First, in LPPT's post above, she mentioned the prospect of a race war. I've heard that meme in the south from the days of my youth, through college. It was always voiced by those who were bigots and/or ideological zealots. We basically ignored them then but they just got louder and louder and what you are seeing today is their temper tantrum. That they are armed and dangerous is obvious and they do seem to want to get their way. The problem is that if we let them, we will be turning our backs on every good, true, beautiful, brave and smart thing we as Americans ever did to placate the

I'm not in favor of removing the statues of leaders of the confederacy; I am in favor, however, of moving them. I think they need to be re-situated to the cemeteries around the nation ... or maybe just bring them all to Stone Mountain Park and turn it into a cemetery. Heck, the state could sell the plots and I'm guessing there are a lot of folks who would pay the state for the right to be buried there. Bottom line, these statues are art and while I'm not in favor of burying them; placing them in select cemeteries is close enough. Where they don't need to be located is in the public

ROTFLMAO I do want to disabuse you of lying but given your propensity for doing so, it would be more productive to beat my head against a wall of mud bricks. Of course the only other thing I can say in response to your post - which is a load of crap - is that it stinks. pubby

Science is about facts; politics is about opinion. That you don't know that say volumes. pubby

The North Koreans aren't blinking, they just close their eyes when they ROTFLTAO. As far as the collusion; Manafort turning down the offer tendered to the recent college grad (2009) to have Trump meet Putin was rebuffed because it was too far above his pay grade and Manafort, and for that matter Trump, were already swimming in money and contacts and would not at all need the 'contact' being proffered by the kid in his emails. (I do think he may have been successful in arranging Carter Page's trip to Russia.) The problem isn't the government silencing the ass hats, October; the pro

I'm shaking in my boots in the presence of a climate science denier pubby

Let's see: the one I'm looking at is 6.5 inches by 2.3 inches by .9-inches and weighs a little over 12.5 oz. Here's the ad spiel from Amazon that remarks about it being portable, pocket friendly: PowerCore 20100A new frontier in portable charging. PowerCore 20100 offers an unbelievable size to capacity ratio along with best-in-class charging speeds. Thanks to Anker’s advanced charging technology, you’ll wonder why you ever wasted time plugged in to the wall. Huge 7-Day Charge Capacity Portable, Pocket-Friendly Size High-Speed Universal Charging Dual-Device Output Here's a p

You are not only calling me a liar ... I said directly that I don't hate the right wing and you come back and contradict me essentially calling me a liar. And I don't recall mentioning any political party. I mean, if you've said it once, you've said it a million times that there are 'right wing democrats' ... Heck, you've mentioned former Sen. Robert Byrd's membership in the KKK many times ... meaning, of course, that he was pretty right wing. Even W. Va.'s senior senator is considered pretty conservative by most folks of both parties. You still haven't addressed the fact that many of t

I don't hate the right wing or racists, Guard Dad. I disagree with them and I also note, for instance, that there were estimates that 80 percent of those folks marching with the neo-nazi/kkk groups were exercising their second amendment rights; apparently somewhat responsibly as I didn't hear of anyone getting shot. I wonder what was their purpose in doing so given the counter-protesters were largely if not totally disarmed. Maybe you would have the insight and understanding to tell me since the best I can do is think that if someone heard so much as a firecracker, we could have had

Amazing, I'm looking at an adapter for my latest 4k camera with a 25-600 f2.8 zoom that makes it possible to use one of those 20,000 mAh battery packs as an alternative that extends the power on status to something like 15hrs of video recording. I'd have to drop down the resolution of the recording to something like 640 or 720p to get that amount of time on the 128gb card to record that long. The battery pack is about the size of a pack of cards and costs $30-40 on Amazon so the bottom line is that level of recording it possible at reasonable cost. I kind of think it is stupid to make su

I was actually thinking you might contact another news organization. TP posted The Young Turks bit where they just got funded for $20 million. You need to know that injustices abound. You see and live the injustice of which you feel you are the victim. Surepip, God rest his soul, saw another injustice right here in Paulding. There are other injustices from short shrifts given customers to stories involving excessive force or incompetence by police here and in other places. Allowing folks to express these injustices have had their cost to pcom. Just as you have been afforded the

Hardly. I've had good relations with cops when working the police beat; an activity I did for real newspapers for more roughly two decades. Hell, I played football too and covered top level college level football programs in both Arkansas and Oklahoma so I've been around a few locker rooms. Of course you are right wing and as well all know, if you're right wing you're already right because being right wing means whatever you say - even black is white - is right because right is right and you're right wing, right! Hell, Zorro, I heard that you were planning to donate your brain to wik

I just thought of another reason for body cams to have an off switch ... bathroom breaks. pubby