Well, we're about to elect Hillary Clinton. She's not stupid. She thinks everyone else is stupid, and she's got enough supporters who don't care whether or why she's being feloniously coy about things like her email use (her lawyer just this evening explained that Clinton has destroyed all of her email that wasn't printed out to lamely respond to demands for her records from her tenure at State).

When she's president, don't ask why we elected a stupid person. As why we stupidly elected her. We'll have eight years to think it through. Yay.

What ARE you talking about? The problem you describe is the state being required to be more thorough in investigating matters like the case in question (the lady with the car, Twitter, etc). The solution to that isn't lowering the threshold by which we describe airlines pilots as too unstable to do that particularly stressful, demanding, and highly responsible (for other people's lives) work.

1/3 of people aren't airline pilots.

And more to the point, 1/3 of people don't take out their depression on a hundred or so other families by slaughtering a plane load of people.

Everybody goes through "rough patches," but very few of them kill themselves over it, let alone decide to kill a hundred other people just to add some more drama to it. The whole point here is that you can't have someone in a position of responsibility like that, and have them be one of those much more fragile people who become suicidal/murderous over a "rough patch."

If it takes something bad happening in their life to make it clear they can't keep a level head and maintain their professionalism, then they are not in the right line of work.

"Many people" are not commercial airline pilots.

But you have to wear goofy looking glasses to use it.

Because most of the airports I know about are on the surface of the earth somewhere. Some are even in mountainous areas.

What is the difference between a pilot who flies an aircraft into the ground by hand and one who has programmed the autopilot to do so? The passengers are just as dead, the only difference is that the pilot can catch up on his reading while letting George do the dirty work.

Now, if you're asking why airplanes don't have safety systems that don't allow a pilot to try landing anywhere but at an airport, and in a manner that would assure a survivable landing, then I'd point you at the Gimli Glider, US Airways Flight 1549, and Asiana Flight 214. The first two are examples of off-airport landings that saved the lives of a very large number of people. The latter is an example of the failures that can happen with even just small deviation from the correct approach.

If you allow an override for that safety system so that the first two landings could be made safely, then what stops the pilot from simply activating the override when he flies into the ground deliberately? And given the relatively large number of ways a pilot can turn off the burners (shut off the engines or reduce them to minimal thrust) exactly what would a safety system that prevents off-airport landings do to keep the airplane in the sky? Toss about a handful of pixie dust?

9/11 was an 18-person suicide pact that many would say was based on a secret cult.

The "1 in a million" squared probability someone else calculated is based on two people with independent chances of 1 in a million. When both people are members of the same "cult" with the same goal and both have worked to get themselves into the position where they can act, the probabilities are no longer independent and can't just be multiplied.

But the chance that a suicidal narcissist who has been able to avoid detection would be able to charm an unsuspecting accomplice into assisting him is much higher than two independently acting secretly suicidal narcissists being in the same place at the same time. These charming, powerful people work with the same flight crews on a regular basis and spend many hours of layover time with each other.

In the US there is no true doctor-patient confidentiality when it comes to pilots. The medical certificate application requires a pilot to list all visits to a doctor in the last three years and the reason (item 19). Item 18 asks if you have ever in your life been diagnosed as having a plethora of conditions, including "(m) mental disorders of any sort; depression, anxiety, etc."

Further, FAR 67.413 says:

(a) Whenever the Administrator finds that additional medical information or history is necessary to determine whether an applicant for or the holder of a medical certificate meets the medical standards for it, the Administrator requests that person to furnish that information or to authorize any clinic, hospital, physician, or other person to release to the Administrator all available information or records concerning that history.

In other words, if you want to be a pilot* in the US, the federal government can ask you to provide access to any and all medical records there might be on you. If you say "no", they can yank your medical certificate. That means you don't get to be a pilot anymore -- not even as a sport pilot that doesn't normally need a medical certificate. It doesn't matter that the guy you share ownership of a sport aircraft with has never tried to get a medical certificate, if YOU had one and it was yanked you don't get to fly that aircraft as PIC legally, even though he can.

And making false statements on the medical application can also result in revocation of the medical. Simply failing to check the box for "depression" when you have been diagnosed and have not previously reported it is considered making a false statement.

* at any level higher than "sport".

No, he's saying it should be illegal to keep things like mental instability and dangerous suicidal mindsets secret from the state when the state is what licenses you to be entrusted, day-in, day-out, with the lives of hundreds of people. If you've got mental problems, don't look for a job where that is by definition a disqualifier. It appears this German guy knew that, and was hiding his problems from his employer and the regulatory agencies that license his operation of giant passenger aircraft.

Yeah, thought so.

Can you explain how a loaf of bread has any inherent connection to any religious beliefs towards gay marriage? What possible religious reason would a baker use to refuse to bake a plain loaf of bread? (Yes, leavened etc. does have religious meanings, but nothing related to gay marriage.) If the baker is baking bread, then refusing to sell it to someone who is gay is discrimination I see no support for, but if he's refusing to bake bread for anyone because of some religious idea, then I see no reason for the state to force him to do so upon the demand of a customer of any class.

Since wedding cakes are a special order item, and the baker is not creating ANY cakes with two male (or female) figures on top, then the situation is significantly different than if he were to make such cakes and sell them only to non-gay customers.

Ok. And I as a Christian baker would not sell a wedding cake with two male figures atop to anyone, also for religious reasons. If "not sell product X to anyone" is the criterion, I meet it. I, too, do not care what your religion is when I refuse to sell you a product that I find objectionable, just as the Muslim shopkeeper doesn't care.

I think it was safe to assume from the context of the question that the shop was not a "web design company" but a store where one might likely find porkchops were the proprietor not Muslim. Like "butcher shop". I'm sorry I didn't make that clear.

And let me also make it clear that I am exploring the boundaries of the issue and where the differences are that make one form of discrimination legal while another is not. I am not actually in real life a Christian baker who won't sell certain baked goods.

That's why the verification wasn't just "schedule" but also "see it happen". If it was critically vital for the service to be provided, make sure it could be before you buy the house. The install is what didn't take place, and when that didn't take place you would have verified the lack of service.

An alternative, simpler step than relying on distant federal websites that base their information on what the companies tell them, is to call the local municipality that deals with Comcast for cable service and find the guy (or persons) who are responsible for managing the franchise. Ask THEM what the service is at your intended address, and ask them what the requirements are for Comcast to provide service there. They would have told you about the law that says Comcast must provide service but can charge you for materials and labor past 300 feet. They would also have the private, secret numbers for internal Comcast dispute resolution and can make calls on your behalf. They could have reminded Comcast of their legal responsibilities, to someone higher than first level customer support.

But none of this was done.

I didn't say that.

I think that's why I pointed out the service clause of the Kitsap County franchise ordinance and that he should have contacted the county franchise administrator when Comcast didn't comply.