spdntrxi

exactly and in most cases I dont think starting a fire is a good financial decision

BillyD

So wrong. You should lawyer up.

downhillmaster

Whatever.
It’s just a matter of time before Grant and Rivendell are sending out email blasts and begging for help/money again.
Nice to know they have done this in the past with such an obviously healthy markup.
There’s one born every minute

FiftySix

Pshaw. Taxes are just an availability fee. If you actually call fire or EMS you may be presented a separate Bill, depending on where you live. God knows I've received fire department EMS bills in the mail. And if you don't have insurance, they do not cut you a break .

​​​​​An old story - https://abcnews.go.com/Business/fire...ory?id=9736696

​​​​​​EDiT: trimmed post for brevity.

I-Like-To-Bike

Some people, some even of prominence, and sometimes the Organization with their name attached have demonstrated no concern for legality. I do not find it admirable that ideologues boast about a lack of concern about the legality of their actions, even if they put a nice sounding spin to their lawbreaking.

spelger

someone mentioned libraries in the same category. sadly your assertion (tongue in cheek i'm sure) probably holds true there as well.

LV2TNDM

"Clueless analogy?" I'm pretty sure we know who the clueless is here. Your blather actually does NOTHING to address the US's failure to accept its past failings and move forward. That we celebrate traitors and slave owners has NOTHING to do with what was happening elsewhere in the world. I just gave ONE example of how one country has dealt with a similar situation. And while we're on the subject, much of the "rest of the world" has done a much better job righting past wrongs. The racism and division doesn't persist in other western countries like it has in the US. The UK comes to mind as a place where this holds true.

I'm sure you're one of the many whites who says, "Well I'm not racist, so why is everyone complaining?" I had a friend say exactly this. "Gee, I treat EVERYONE fairly at work, so I don't get what the problem is." Myopic beyond belief.

downhillmaster

Much of the rest of the world has done a better job?

If the rest of the world has done such a great job why aren’t blacks emigrating from the US?
They aren’t. They are coming to the US in record numbers.
The black immigrant population has increased fivefold since 1980.

Gconan

With all due respect, it was wrong of you to compare the south in the 1800's to Nazi Germany. There is no comparison whatsoever. Perhaps you did not know what the Nazis did to the people of the Soviet Union, as well as all Jewish People everywhere. Perhaps you do not know the depth of the perversity.

Skulking

How was it wrong of him to make the comparison? He wasn't comparing the atrocities committed (Arguing over which country has committed the worst atrocities has no upside), he was comparing the way with which each country has chosen to treat that part of their history which is a perfectly reasonable comparison to make.

Gconan

Germany came to that conclusion by being occupied by the United States, Great Britain, France and The old Soviet Union. We had something to do with that. We had to force them to confront what they did. We deserve much of that credit.

indyfabz

Yep. He thought he saw an opening but didn’t pay enough attention to the actual comparison being made.

Koyote

I'm not an attorney...But how is Riv's reparations pricing different than, say, senior citizen discounts? Or discounts for military service members? Or the fact that car dealers systematically negotiate down to lower prices for whites than they do for blacks? (And they negotiate down to lower prices for men than for women?) If all of these things are legal, I'm not sure how Riv's policy isn't.

Skulking

I can't speak to how much influence was exerted by other countries to force Germany to confront and acknowledge the holocaust and how much they did themselves. It doesn't sound like you have a problem with other countries forcing Germany to take responsibility and to make reparations. If that's the case, then I assume you have no problem with American citizens forcing America to take responsibility for our racist history and make reparations?

downhillmaster

What holds true in the UK?
Blacks make up only 3% of the UK’s total population.

veganbikes

And if you notice the colors of the Fire Department are socialist red and fire is red. If we privatized fire it wouldn't need to burn all the time on our tax dime.

Ronnie Reagan Zombie 2020
"Mr. Gorbachev feed me your brains"

Gconan

Again, there is no comparison whatsoever. You truly lessen the scope of the Nazis crimes. There is no comparison whatsoever.

By the way. We fought a war to free slaves. Do we get credit for that? Or did it not really happen?

Skulking

Are you suggesting that America should refuse to take responsibility for our past and refuse to make reparations because it lessens the scope of our crimes? I really don't understand how I am lessening the scope of the Nazis crimes by saying that Germany has done a better job acknowledging their history of atrocities than America has. To be clear, I am categorically refusing to compare the atrocities because nobody wins when we fall into that trap. All I am saying is that we have two countries with a history of atrocities and I am comparing how each country has addressed that history.

As for fighting a war to free enslaved people, yes we did do that. And America has spent the following 155 years doing everything we can to keep their descendants from experiencing all the benefits that freedom was supposed to afford them. Are you suggesting that once the enslaved people were freed we had done everything we needed to do? Or maybe when the voting rights act of 1965 was finally passed and black people were allowed to vote? Or when the equal employment opportunity act of 1972 was passed? At what point in our history do you feel we reached a point where black people in America were truly treated equal under the law?

Gconan

I believe right now black people in America are truly treated equal under the law. Are you saying they are not?

Skulking

In America, black people are undeniably not treated equally under the law when compared to white people. When you compare statistics on incarcerations, or when you compare sentencing in criminal cases controlling for all factors except for race, you will find that black people still aren't treated equally under the law. We can also go into all of the ways in which black people can be denied access to things like loans not because they are black, but because they live in a certain neighborhood. A neighborhood that happens to be predominantly a black neighborhood.

Setting aside what I just wrote, you believe that today black people in America are treated equal under the law. Can you tell me at what point you believe we crossed the threshold from black people not being treated equally under the law to now where you believe they are? If you can't give a specific moment, that's okay. Give me a ballpark time frame. Was is 150 years ago? Was is 50 years ago? Was it 20 years ago? Was it last week?

Gconan

NO.
They have not done a better job, and they can't. Again you do not have a comprehension of their crimes.
You are lessening mans inhumanity to man. You are incapable of comprehending their evil. You lessen their evil. You lessen what they did to other human beings.
Thank you for acknowledging that!
I believe right now black people are treated equal under the law.
Are you denying that we have made great strides in equality?

BillyD

Well . . . . with that I'm going to again close the thread for the night because I believe the responses will be hard pressed to be civil. SMH

TheLizard

Right, of course. So true... yea.

ummm... say, just for reference, mind you, could you please point me to a few places where I can get a lower price for my skin color?

uprightbent

I'd like some Riv reparations for their odd offerings. Pics of bikes mostly being pushed up hills. Wide & weird handlebars. The too cool for helmet "rule". 12 dollar baskets on 2k bikes. What's up with these double or curving tubes. I simply don't get this any longer. Why are so many paying $2,800 for hybrids to go 11mph. I miss the Homer Heilsen, level top tubes, and the original Grant logic. Repair me some of that.....

nigelbison

Race is an immutable characteristic that varies from individual to individual, and is not chosen by the individual. The things you listed don't fit that definition. Also, show evidence of the lower price negotiation you refer to or else its a baseless assertion. Racist policy is reprehensible, and in cases where the people perpetrating racist policy think they are morally justified is even more dangerous and disgusting.