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Fuckin blast, bubbys!

As always, awesome time. Thanks for setting this up guys. I’m definitely down to make this a regular thing.

So it's likely that the 65 second lap was closer to a 71. I think their timer was acting a little weird. @jacobhawkins is clearly a cheater though.

Let the shit talking commence.

PSA - Bring your own helmet

The resist movement is quite similar to a toddler candy aisle temper tantrum.

Out for this. Didn't get home to bed until 4am. Just woke up. Feeling rough after last night's ruckus. Race safely...eat, drink, and be merry

Holy shit homie. Some of my college papers weren't even that long.

Wow, you should open this thread to a college level political science or sociology class. Many of the base theories they study are flowing through here. I'll leave the base question of racism to others to debate. Individuals on opposite ends of any power spectrum will agree on very little because their perspectives are very different. The topic is Trump. As a pretty avid student of history he is not unique. Trump falls right in line with the long line of world personalities that appeal to the fears of the populace and stoke those same fears to move them in the direction they wish. Looking at the studies that are already being released concerning the past election Trump ran a campaign based upon the picture that America was dying in flames. Crime was stated as being rampant in our cities. Citizens were said to be unemployed from coast to coast. Immigrants were claimed to be raping and murdering at will. Businesses were claimed to be closing their doors left and right to leave for the greener pastures of foreign nations due to taxes. On and on this went. Trump ran a campaign based solely on the notion that there was nothing positive going on in this nation. Looking at recorded factual data this seems to be blatantly false. Please feel free to check me on these facts. At the end of the Obama presidency the nation gained 2.2 million jobs in the previous 12 months. Job gains had been realized for the previous 75 months - longest streak on records. When President Obama took office the country had lost 4.4 million jobs in the previous 12 months. The unemployment rate was 7.8% when President Obama took office and hit a peak of 10% his first year. At his departure the rate was 4.7%. The historical average is 5.6%. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation was crashing when President Obama took office and continued so his first year. In his subsequent 7 years in office GDP rose every year with a high of 2.6% in 2015. Desired GDP growth by the markets is 4% not seen since 1999 but from where we came from markets were very happy as evidenced by corporate profits during the period which reached record levels in 2014 at 1.73 Trillion. Note this figure and year as we'll get back to it. The sector that was key in causing the economic crash of 2007 has recovered quite well under recent years. Housing prices have rebounded to the point that market analysts are warning of another bubble in prices in some areas. This is the area that is the most visible indicator of the steam in the economy currently to most Americans. Trump took office with stock prices at near historic highs, after an eight-year run-up.Under Obama, stock prices set record after record. All three stock indexes set records on a single day, Aug. 15, 2016. The S&P 500 had gained 166 percent, the Dow Jones had gained 131 percent and the NASDAQ had gained 260 percent. During the campaign, Trump kept repeating the false statement that the murder rate was the “highest it’s been in 45 years.” In fact, even with murders rising, Americans were less likely to be murdered in any of the past eight years than at any time since the 1960s. In 2008, the rate was 5.4 per 100,000, and it has not been that high since. Americans were 23 percent less likely to be a victim of burglary, auto theft or other property crimes than they were in 2008. And the number of property crimes edged down further by 0.6 percent in the first six months of last year. Trump is a master manipulator. He has shown this in his business dealings where by no measure could he be considered successful. Most of his holding end in bankruptcy or sold off at drastically reduced prices. This is attested to by his business peers, market analysts and others. Trump claims that America will be first and countries and business that don't embrace this will feel his wrath. Well he can start in the mirror. Not one product from any of Trump's numerous businesses is made in the U.S. From food to clothing to printed materials all of them are made and/or packaged on foreign soil. Trump has hijacked the U.S. political machine for purely personal gain through personal enrichment (tax cuts) and the power that he now his with multi-national corporate executives. Its no coincidence that he has placed millionaires and billionaires in every department lead position with no prior experience. Each is taking actions to eliminate all regulations and requirements for businesses to do anything except chase profit. The tax cut was stated that it would have a trickle down effect that would improve the life of the American worker. The full effect will take years to be judged but the first round of results doesn't look promising. Companies that Trump paraded before the American people as bringing jobs to the states because of him have eliminated or fired thousands of workers and relocated facilities and operations off shore. Comcast, AT&T, WalMart, Carrier all made big press release announcements following the tax cut passage about how many of their workers would receive bonuses because of it. Following the business news shows that all are laying off or firing thousands of workers, consolidating profits and increasing dividend payouts for their shareholders. This isn't how this was supposed to work. Getting back to that record 1.73 Trillion profit for corporations in 2014 ....up until the 1980's as productivity within the American economy rose workers wages rose almost in lockstep percentage wise. At that point there was a divergence. I'll leave it up to others to explain why, I have my beliefs. At that point productivity continued to rise but workers wages remained relatively flat to the point that from 1973 productivity measured by rise in GDP and profit indexes rose approximately 73% while worker wages only rose 12%. You will also note this is when we started to hear of the "golden parachutes" and the hugely inflated CEO salaries. As productivity rose corporations held workers wages flat while funneling more and more profits to shareholders and executives. How this relates to Trump is this - you're being fleeced and agreeing to it. The best scam is one where the target willingly goes along with it. Nothing in Trump's resume indicated that he had any skills, knowledge or abilities that would translate into an effective leader for this nation but he said what people wanted to hear. The majority demographic is shrinking percentage wise in this country and is estimated to switch the majority to the minority by 2050. That has the electorate testy as hell because they are seeing their values and images reflected less and less in their neighborhood, media, public policy and other places in society. When any entity feels that its survival is threatened it lashes out. Trumps tapped into that fear using lies painting the looming threat of immigrants over running the country. Thugs controlling the streets. Heathens threatening your religious rights. Then he painted himself as the only one willing to do the dirty work to put the "monsters" back in the box and "Make America Great Again". I always wondered at specifically what point in America's history was he referring to? Topic for another time. Trump got the electorate to vote against in own best interest. "I'm going to bring coal back." If there is anyone here that believed that would happen then you've wasted your time reading this. That wasn't even a possibility. The only individuals that believed that were the folks suffering the most from coal's decline due to a changing energy industry. They believed because that was the only thing they had to cling to. They had an excuse but what about the rest of the country. "Build a wall and make Mexico pay for it." Sounds good - implement it. Does anyone think that throwing 20 million Americans off of healthcare coverage will be beneficial to the country? The media assists Trump in his schemes by entertaining the notion that whether or not he is racist matters even in the least bit. Articulate why that matters? What does matter is that this tax cut is going to hit your pockets in about five years when Congress refuses to extend them because the deficit has exploded due to reduced receipts and the economic ratings agencies threaten to lower the U.S. credit rating. What does matter is the health of yourself and your family when food, product and environmental safety regulations have been stripped. How long has Flint, Michigan been without clean drinking water again? How long has Puerto Rico been without electrical power? They are Americans too aren't they? Trump knows exactly what he's doing and he knows that he doesn't have long to do it. It's no mystery as to why after eight years of Congress holding up appointments to federal courts there has been a flurry of appointments in the past year - and yes those are lifetime. I feel strongly about this because the people that can least afford it are the ones that will suffer the most and when the pain starts to hit those that believe that are above it they will lash out in the absolute wrong direction as to the cause of it. Misdirection, the oldest trick. The saying that is always true is that if you follow the money you will find the truth. There's many neat little applications online where you can map connections between corporations, rich and influential people that are pretty eye opening and allow you to see the news headlines in a new perspective. Most Americans don't have the patience or time to take in more than the 30 second soundbite which is what they are counting on. Its a master chess game and we are all pawns - expendable. My two cent advice to you is if you have any discretionary funds laying around dump them into a stock exchange traded mutual fund now and forget about it for 3-4 years. The markets are going to go on a short run this year with a correction sometime mid-year and then go on a record rise for two years. The dividing line will be those that are in the market and those that are not. Good luck.

I have one. I wear XL I believe. Have to look when I get home. Brittany just got hers today, she's a M

Glad to see some familiar faces and some new ones. I can't wait til warm weather so we can get some rides going.

Nice to meet you, Joey. Looking forward to riding with you when the weather gets decent.

Team player.

Ah, very good point. I don't know why I keep forgetting the G42 - maybe because I passed it over for a CM9, then the LCP then the G43. The G42 certainly is thin and has a nice grip, but dang, it's big by pocket 380 standards.

Dry firing, trigger feels very nice... Will report back once we shoot it

This is the most accurate statement about American politics. Both parties are guilty as fuck. If you still think that your party gets it, and it's the other parties fault, then you are stupid as fuck.

He is not a Democrat. According to Democrats, anyone that is not a Democrat is racist. Everyone in my family (but me) is a democrat, and I have heard this many times since the Obama presidential election.

And don't use a shitty AutoZone meter you bought in the bargain bin for $10. Have some pride.