@raphjd
Can we dispense with the bi-polar nature of the argument?
Can't she be both qualified AND a token appointment?
So, is it really so bad to look at a stack of 700 resumes of highly qualified people and say to yourself: "Hey, there has never, EVER, been an out trans person appointed at this level of government. She's as qualified as the others, plus she'll make history as the first trans person appointed to such a high office! BONUS!"
@raphjd
I think you're missing my point....
There are always going to be errors in the accounting of who actually died from COVID-19, and who didn't.
FOR EXAMPLE:
So a guy who is in stage-4 renal failure - has 3-months to live and is awaiting a kidney transplant... and he gets COVID-19 and dies in... 3-months! Did the COVID-19 kill him? Or was it the lack of a kidney for transplant?
.... and what if he was HIV+ (not on meds), had type-1 diabetes, and was a heavy smoker too?
The truth is, there is SELDOM a SINGLE cause of death in real hospitals - real life just isn't that fragile.
With regard to COVID, though - it has been a moving target from the beginning! We learn more and more every day, and hindsight is 20/20... so while we know now that the decision to place COVID patients in nursing homes to die had TRAGIC, even horrific, consequences... but they didn't know that then.
That DOESN'T MEAN it shouldn't be investigated - improving our knowledge of how we got here isn't a bad thing.
But complaining that the weatherman got the wind speed wrong in the middle of a hurricane is kind-of pointless. What was important (at the time) was that there was a storm in the first place!
Learning the ACTUAL statistics will be important in the aftermath, but it is of no real value to blame the weatherman for getting the specifics wrong while in the middle of the storm (unless, the TRUTH WAS that there was no storm at all to begin with)... but I'm hoping that's not your claim: that COVID isn't "real"...
@raphjd
So, you're saying that, if you happened to be insanely rich, you'd fly coach ... you AND your family... in the middle of a pandemic. If that's your claim, then I say: Prince Harry shows intelligence in his decision making in the real world that you fail to do in your imaginary one. 
I'm sorry, the hypocrite is the Governor (I think it was a Governor) who told everyone to stay at home for the holidays, then flew off to his family's holiday gathering.
FWIW: If I recall rightly, it was a DEMOCRATIC Governor... he should have resigned. That was just a TOTAL abuse of power.
The AIDS activist marching for laws requiring safer sex practices whose Grindr profile says "bareback only" is hypocritical.
The minister preaching about the sins of homosexuality - while he's secretly flowing the alter-boys after church - is hypocritical.
The guy from the porn site requesting that people not upload videos from his site, while having a history of downloading multiple GB of porn videos himself (presumably from OTHER producers, naturally) - is hypocritical.
Rich people have the right to spend their money. That's not being hypocritical. Prince Harry didn't tell others not to travel, and he doesn't have the power to make rules against it.
Perfectly legitimate to complain that he's flying around with his family on the British tax-payers's dime... except that he isn't! He's given up the Royal allowance! He's just a rich snob! No power, no rules to set. Just a rich bloke that TONS of people care about because of the rest of his family (including his wife).
-- EDIT--
For those who don't want to follow the Twitter link: it's a posting about Prince Harry flying his family on a private plane and saying he did so to protect his family.
@raphjd
Wait a minute... you're complaining about an UNDER-count in NY because the nursing homes didn't report the hospital's cases as their own....
Then you claim there was a massive OVER-count?
I guess you CAN have your cake and eat it too! At least you can!
@raphjd
I'm not claiming Betsy DeVos was devoid of good decisions, only that the DIRECTION she gave the Education Department did little-to-nothing to promote actual education - and actually DEVALUED public education.
Mind you, I am aware that was her goal as the appointee of Mr. Trump! But my point remains: political appointees don't have to be experts in the fields they are asked to lead! They are appointed to provide direction and leadership to echo the desires and wishes of the President and his Administration.
My point about DeVos was not just that I didn't agree with her positions (I didn't - though I admit to not knowing about the specifics to which you refer), but rather that by being so controversial in her position, she drew added (unwanted) criticism and bad attention to her Department.
Regardless of your political views (even if you agreed with her - and the Administration's - positions), she herself was a disaster for the Department of Education.
@fun17
Sharia law does not require evidence, at least not as we know it in the US.
"Revenge" accusations are not uncommon - all it takes is to get a few citizens "in good standing" to attest that someone has broken the code, and they will be punished - severely.
There is nothing in place to stop a "band of queers" - gay men and women who have not yet been "outed" - from making accusations against the leaders of these vigilante groups - and not only shaming them (by making accusations), but also stripping them of their "power" by marking them as accused.
My point is not that this should be done! No, rather to point out that this kind of "law enforcement" is RIFE with abuse and false accusations. It fell to the wayside CENTURIES ago, not because people stopped believing in their religion, or became less pious - but because this "system" is deeply flawed, unjust, and totally unreliable as a way to enforce the law.
@galwaybiguy
Keep in mind that you're not downloading from or through this site itself. While you download a "tiny" little torrent file from gaytorrents.ru, you're actually getting the contents (or bits of content) from the seeders DIRECTLY. That's the whole point of the torrent technology: no one source, no one person's upload limit to slow you down. (e.g.: 1 seeder on dial-up at 56kbps gets supplemented by 10 seeders on dial-up at 56kbps equaling up to 560kbps - on dial-up! Now consider that many people have service with 2Mbps, or like me, 25Mbps, and apply the multiplier... and zoom!!)
Still, the path from their content to your system does not go through the tracker. The software endpoints (the seeder and you, the leecher) report back to the tracker about how much you've downloaded (or uploaded).
Something to keep in mind: my ISP regularly sees huge amounts of content coming and going from my IP address on my "torrent port" and they will throttle that port. (It's in the agreement you "signed" when you got your high-speed connection).
My fix for that is to change my port weekly. It's rather simple: Look in your torrent client settings, change the port, then (if you ever even had it open) login to you router and change the port forward you put in there for your torrent seeding.
@headstrong19
For those interested, it's on HBO Max
Originally a British mini-series
Of course, it's also likely downloadable on other torrent sites (I have NOT seen it downloadable here yet)
@raphjd
The issue here, if you dig deeper, isn't as controversial as it appears at first glance. FIRST OF ALL: the report is not that they under-reported ALL COVID deaths by 50%! No, they under-counted the deaths IN NURSING HOMES by up to 50%. BIG DIFFERENCE THERE!
If you can remember back, at the early part of the pandemic, NY was taking COVID patients who couldn't be helped (or didn't need ICU attention) in hospitals and sending them to long-term care facilities - many of which were nursing homes. The issue was, they needed the beds in the hospitals, and we didn't know yet that the virus was spread by aerosol (we still thought, at the time, that it was a contact thing).
We can argue later about the tragic consequences on sending COVID patients to nursing homes to die, and the effect that had on COVID in the other nursing home patients...
So, a hospital sends a COVID patient they cannot help to a nursing home - ostensibly to die (remember, back then we didn't have the treatments we have today - that we had just 6-10 weeks later!). And, of course, that person shortly thereafter passes away... from COVID.
Is that a death in the NURSING HOME, or is that a death from the Hospital who sent them there, essentially to die?
Some nursing homes didn't report these as "their deaths" because they weren't their patient before they got COVID! They still had to worry about those numbers being public and the fact that they still wanted to care for patients AFTER the pandemic -- and who wants to go live in a nursing home where thousands of people died from COVID?
An investigation needs to occur, most certainly. But don't expect real-world scenarios to fit neatly into your conveniently labeled boxes.
-- EDIT here -- That last comment came across as somewhat snarky when I re-read my own post. It wasn't meant as such. My point wasn't directed at any one person (@raphjd especially) - rather a point about ALL of us (even me) who would like to have "life" fit into neat, clearly defined categories... and that's just not the real world in which we live.
There is actually very little BLACK AND WHITE in our world - it's truly a RAINBOW of colors.... and while that makes organizing and categorizing (and understanding) things much more difficult, it is also what makes life so wonderful! IMHO
@raphjd
There are many jobs in the Federal Government where the "head" (even cabinet-level head) of the organization really doesn't need to know ANYTHING about the ACTUAL WORKINGS of the agency they're "heading" - the day-to-day WORK of the agency is done by "career" Government employees. These "political appointees" are there to provide direction (goals & points of emphasis) and policy.
For example, I'd bet you that Pete Buttigeg couldn't name 5 different bridge construction base materials. But that doesn't mean he can't be a good Transportation Secretary! At that level of leadership, the details of the "job" are NOT what you're hired for - it's the leadership and direction-setting. (Mayor Pete will be deciding to "Fix that Bridge... and that one, too" not "Let's use a polymer concrete wearing surface system instead of rubberized asphalt."
Dr. Rachel Levine, as the Assistant Secretary of Health can provide MUCH NEEDED and VALUABLE guidance on the health needs of the LGBTQ community without having to know the difference between Bikarvy and Dovato.
Is it good that she's a health professional? Absolutely! Is there possibly, anywhere, someone POSSIBLY more qualified? Sure, that's actually probable! But the mix of competence AND personal qualities makes her a ground-breaking and inspiring choice!
Now, with that said, it's also the case that, when you put someone at the top who really is CLUELESS about the department they head (and, to be sure, that is NOT the case with Dr. Levine), real damage can be done. Betsy DeVos. Enough said.
Great site, new to torrents though. :hmmm:
Might need help on what torrent client I should be using?
So, keep in mind you're downloading software that enables you to do something some consider immoral, if not illegal. (No judgement - I've downloaded well over 20 TB in the MANY MANY year's I've been on this site! - just a fact.) The point being, you're not going to get Microsoft or Google or Apple or any other large software company QUALITY software to download your torrents.
Also, the makers/developers of this software generally like to do things - like eat - which cost money too, so they look for ways to make a buck from their software. Again, there is a point: do not be surprised if your software comes with ads or spam.
You might to start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BitTorrent_clients
So with all of THAT said, plus the fact that I've downloaded SO MUCH PORN - it's reasonable for you to ask the obvious follow-on: Which one do you use?
Short answer? qBittorrent - but maybe not for reasons you would care about: I use Linux for most of my "dark web" activities, and I like the qBittorrent Linux (GUI) interface. I also like that I can get a very compatible interface on my Windoze desktop too.
I still maintain I like the new format, but agree that it needs a few tweaks:
Beyond that, MANY KUDOS for the redesign! I appreciate it, but more importantly, I appreciate THE EFFORT!!! :crazy2: :love:
I like the new design - and I'm especially impressed that you've clearly tweaked the layout based on on user feedback!
WELL DONE!
One thing I noticed today on the Search page: in the first column, where it appears you're trying to show the list of categories/sub-categories, they're not always showing the full list. I see up to 5 (1 big, 4 small) on some torrents, but there are missing ones on some. In particular, it looks like when there are only 4 total, only 3 show. (Sorry if my naming doesn't match yours).
Also, I use a DARK layout, and my ratio is under 1 (I don't know, I think I get penalized by the fact that I use a VPN proxy) - still, the text is supposed to be RED – but the font color is too dark to read. I have to highlight it to read it. (And, I'm creating new torrents with some of my older stuff that I've re-coded to be smaller to try to improve my ratio!)
Otherwise, I love that you're working to make things better!