avatar!

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/01/15/2021-was-a-record-year-for-homicides-in-portland/ It never ceases to amaze me how STUPID people are! Portland was all about defund the police, and the hate and lack of leadership the police were shown was a travesty. Now that police have left in droves, crime is rampant, people are "yo! where are the police?!" well, they left for better pastures. Good luck Portland, it will take you years and years to recover from your stupidity. Also, you're far from the only city to see this, sadly.

Welcome back! Hope you feel better and recover! Take care and play (video games) hard

I agree with you, when the wealth inequality is as it currently stands, things have to change. If they won't, I do agree eventually there might be so much violence it will make today look like Mister Roger's Neighborhood. I also agree with you that we need to make sure people in this country can afford necessities like food, water, housing. That said, there are ways to do it, and just letting people steal is NOT the way to do it. That exacerbates numerous problems including shootings - which can easily happen and other forms of violence - when people think they can get away with one thing, they feel they can get away with other things potentially including violent crime. Now, I'm not saying all people who steal from your local pharmacy are out looking to destroy the world. If one guy grabs a beer and walks out (as was shown in the video) that guy is not exactly going to turn around and sell it for profits. Nor is he going to feed "hungry kids" as a certain AOC might imply. Nor should he go to jail IMO - although that doesn't mean he should be allowed to steal. More urgently, thefts where people steals hundreds to thousands of dollars worth of goods are hurting numerous communities, typically, the most impoverished ones which supposedly AOC is out to help. Again, I agree we absolutely must address wealth inequality, taxes, etc. and we need to do it sooner rather than later. However, that isn't directly related to many of these brazen thefts. Smash-and-grab as well as other crimes are believed to be in large part due to bail reform which among other things has led to releasing murderers - and before you say "oh, so you think everyone should be locked up for the smallest offense!" - I will add that NO ONE is saying that. What people are saying is that the evidence is clear - letting numerous criminals, especially ones with violent offenses, on the streets because of so-called "bail reform", leads to violence across the community. A retail such as Rite-Aid, Walgreens, etc. will obviously close stores when it no longer is profitable to stay open. In fact, employees are scared that nothing is being done to protect them! Furthermore, employees have even said they are afraid to interfere not only because thieves might have weapons, but because they can be sued if the perpetrator is "hurt"! If you've ever volunteered in a meal center you know that no one in this country has to go hungry - there are resources to help. Cost of living and health insurance are issues that need serious addressing, I fully agree. Nevertheless, to assume that these thefts are because someone is "hungry" is asinine. Letting people rob and steal without consequences will never help.

In some cases, stolen merch is flipped within minutes to nearby businesses. A young man came into a restaurant across the street from Rite Aid Thursday night with four green Palmolive detergent bottles hidden down his pants, which he took out and appeared to sell to the establishment. Another homeless man came into the same restaurant with a bagful of beverages, including Red Bull, that he offloaded to the staff, The Post observed. Maybe AOC believes that detergent, mascara, alcohol, and similar products are exactly what parents want to feed their "hungry child"

“There used to be right and wrong in this country. We’re dealing with people who don’t understand that crime pays. We’re in trouble.” Left-wing US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), whose district includes part of the Bronx and Queens, has downplayed both the shoplifting crisis in Manhattan as well as organized smash-and-grab retail theft groups in California’s Bay Area. “Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren’t paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent and so they go out and they need to feed their child and they don’t have money so … they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry,” she said last year. Maybe... they're really aliens from Alpha Centauri, and are not sure how to use human currency, and are doing this so that they can learn how to transcend us beyond physical limits. Sounds crazy? Not more crazy than AOC.

Ashli Babbitt a martyr? Her past tells a more complex story https://apnews.com/article/ashli-babbitt-capitol-siege-a15c7e52a04d932972b7a284c7a8f7df The first time Celeste Norris laid eyes on Ashli Babbitt, the future insurrectionist had just rammed her vehicle three times with an SUV and was pounding on the window, challenging her to a fight...Her [Babbitt] Twitter account, which was taken down after her death, was rife with references to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which centers on the baseless belief that Trump has secretly battled deep-state enemies and a cabal of Satan-worshiping cannibals that includes prominent Democrats who operate a child sex trafficking ring. The woman was unhinged, crazy, violent, and frankly a violent end for her is not a big shock.

But Snowbi-Wan Kenobi is great

...wow, you're serious. Hitler murdered millions upon millions of people which led ultimately led to 3-5% of the human population being slaughtered or dying, but in your mind it's "something, something, Hitler" So, if it doesn't affect your video game collecting in good ol' Cali don't worry, is that the gist? Anyway, I'll respond regardless of inane and pointless it will be, since after all, "something, something, Hilter" ... First, the "West" is already at war on a number of fronts including economic and cyber. However, sure, you're talking about conventional/traditional war. Is it smart for the USA to intervene? Yes and no. Biden said it correctly that we will have to wait and see, although I think he spoke out of turn for the record. Letting Russia invade, slaughter, take-over, and brutalize a country that wants to join NATO and is friendly to the West would be a grave disaster and everyone knows it. No one plans to send fighter jets to Moscow, but at the same time you can't allow fighter jets from Russia to attack Kyiv either. Putin is playing a dangerous game here, which as experts have pointed out could easily spill over and who knows what that might lead to - perhaps disasters with millions of deaths.

Congrats! I think some sellers just want to clear a bunch of stuff off their shelves, and I see some great games there

You've gotta be joking?? That kind of mentality is what lead to World War II. That's almost isolationist thinking right there "Why do we care? Let them sort it out! It doesn't involve us" history has taught us how that ends and I'll be damned if I'll let it repeat - well, in the sense that as one individual I can't do much, but I can at least speak out. Neither the rise of Adolf Hitler to power nor the escalation of Japanese expansionism did much to change the nation’s isolationist mood in the 1930s. Most Americans still believed the nation’s interests were best served by staying out of foreign conflicts and focusing on problems at home, especially the devastating effects of the Great Depression. Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts in the late 1930s, aiming to prevent future involvement in foreign wars by banning American citizens from trading with nations at war, loaning them money, or traveling on their ships. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/great-debate

A bit off topic, but do people remember when the History Channel actually showed and discussed history? That, was a long time ago...

Yeah, because Russia and North Korea are super peaceful loving countries, eh? I used it in quotes because the news channel considers itself progressive - do a bit of research.

Putin 'won't stop' with Ukraine: Why Americans should care about Russia's aggression against its neighbor https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-wont-stop-ukraine-why-230015017.html Another Russian invasion of the former Soviet republic would be “the most consequential thing that’s happened in the world, in terms of war and peace, since World War II,” Biden said. A Ukrainian government minister warned Britain’s Sky News in December that a full invasion of Ukraine would spread conflict around Europe and could even trigger World War III. “It is unpredictable as to what will happen,” said William Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. He noted that throughout history, conflicts often start small with an assassination or a strike on one country that then spreads to other parts of the world. Years ago some people were already sending out early warning messages that Russia and China have gone beyond "the Cold War" mentality, and it was "funny" how many people were "naaah, it's all good mate! nothing is going to happen" and here it is, happening. Here are some thoughts from a "progressive" news channel:

Well, if you get a PS5 you can play it too

https://www.polygon.com/22893534/tifa-lockhart-rule-34-porn-video-italian-senate-artist-reaction-viral The Italian senate was meeting on Zoom, to discuss data transparency in politics. As Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi began to speak, a user by the name of Alex Spence entered the chat and “Zoombombed” the senate by playing a pornographic video of Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Tifa Lockhart for a short period of time, before he was disconnected.

I have a copy of the CoTM1 for trade. However, its for the PS4 - if interested drop me a message

"Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard to bring the joy and community of gaming to everyone" More like...

Cool! coming out tomorrow, hope it's amazing

I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm a tad bit curious how much this cost...

It's pretty amazing how stupid and greedy people get when it comes to money The long-running case of a former deep-sea treasure hunter marking his sixth year in jail for refusing to disclose the whereabouts of missing gold coins has hit yet another roadblock. Research scientist Tommy Thompson has been held in contempt of court since Dec. 15, 2015, for that refusal. He is also incurring a daily fine of $1,000. Really - you'd rather spend years in jail than disclose the whereabouts of money which by law is not yours... Despite an investors lawsuit and a federal court order, Thompson, 69, still won't cooperate with authorities trying to find 500 coins minted from some of the gold, according to court records, federal prosecutors and Algenon Marbley, the judge who found Thompson in contempt. Thompson has previously said, without providing details, that the coins — valued at about $2.5 million — were turned over to a trust in Belize. After Thompson failed to appear for a 2012 Ohio hearing to discuss the coins, U.S. marshals eventually tracked him to Florida in 2015 and arrested him. Yeah, guess he doesn't value his time, freedom, nor life as much as those glittery gold coins