Interesting. Hadn’t thought much about it. Military explosives are very robust and typically require a blasting cap for detonating. You wouldn’t want a blasting cap in a pager your target might drop. Handling blasting caps is the dangerous part of handling military explosives.

You can burn C4 to heat C rations. Given the time and resources you could create a specialized explosive detonated by a high temperature.

Ford was a romantic in the 19th century tradition.

Romanticism may be seen in part as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution,[3] though it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, as well as a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.

Hispanic male.

Harris and a Hispanic politician. Man or woman, it doesn’t matter.

The most interesting development is the Clintons almost immediate endorsement of Harris. If she wins, they look like the pros everyone claims they are. If she loses, oh well, they did what they could to help. Obama looks like a Johnny come lately.

I saw McCartney in concert in 2022. He was very good. 1970 good? No. But well worth the price of admission.

My daughter, born in 1990, played YMCA soccer from 1st thru 6th grade. One of the teams she played each season had at least 5 Ashleys. The coach would call out directions from the sidelines, “Ashley Smith…Ashley Jones” etc. I’m sure they had a team name, but it was common for us, and even some league officials, to call them “The Ashleys”.

Carter was a Southern Democrat. In most respects he was to the right of the median Democrat in Congress. One reason why his ability as a Democrat to get his policies enacted by a Democratically controlled Congress was limited. He also preached a foreign policy that was moral, as opposed to Nixon’s more pragmatic “He may be an SOB, but he’s our SOB” approach. Carter’s policy sounds good in speeches but sometimes nations have to choose between two evils.
Inflation, the hostages and Desert One were the straws that broke Carter’s presidency.

Two Democrat held Senate seats will become vacant through death or resignation. Replacement Senators will be Republicans, appointed by Republican governors.
The New York Times will publish an editorial demanding a constitutional amendment requiring appointed Senators be chosen by a nonpartisan panel of Democratic politicians.

“ On New Year’s Day in 1930, von Neumann married Marietta Kövesi, who had studied economics at Budapest University.[41] Von Neumann and Marietta had one child, a daughter, Marina, born in 1935. As of 2021 Marina is a distinguished professor emerita of business administration and public policy at the University of Michigan.[42] The couple divorced in 1937. In October 1938, von Neumann married Klara Dan, whom he had met during his last trips back to Budapest before the outbreak of World War II.[43]
In 1930, before marrying Marietta, von Neumann was baptized into the Catholic Church.[44] Von Neumann’s father, Max, had died in 1929. None of the family had converted to Christianity while Max was alive, but all did afterward.[45]”

Something didn’t smell right. Marriage outside the Church that ends in divorce is a nullity.

In a word, terrain.

Changes in elevation: hills, gullies, depressions.

Changes in conditions: wet, muddy, rocky, sandy, debris, obscurants.

It’s hard to get from point A to point B. Add in the complexities of using the terrain to conceal your movements, target acquisition and destruction or suppression, flank and rear security, air defense.

My personal opinion, it’s more likely mechanized units will field disposable drones, giving them recon and limited attack capabilities.

T90s are not left over Cold War relics. Neither are the latest T72 mods. Both have figured as K kills in published photos. Same for some of their ADA assets.

How many have been destroyed or abandoned? No idea. From appearances, some units in contact are tricked out with top of the line equipment.

I expect the Russians will continue to grind whatever grist is necessary to achieve a “win”, however they define it.

There are 10 Principles of War and the Russians appear to be violating all 10.

Supersonic jet travel was a casualty of the substantial increase in fuel price. Before 1973, oil was $3 a barrel. Afterwards, $12. Layer that on a jet carrying around 100 passengers. Add in US noise abatement restrictions, limiting supersonic travel to coastal cities.

Solve the fuel problem with modern advancements in engines. Figure out a means to placate the sound NIMBYs and you could probably make a business case for a revival. Provided someone with a very large bag of money has the vision to spend billions in development.

Beards and tattoos will come to define post Great Recession America. Ironically, casting directors will find it increasingly difficult to cast many actors and actresses (am I allowed to use that word?) in movie situations before 2001 because of their extensive ink.

I can almost hear a viewer in 2040 saying, “They must have had really cold summers back in the 70s because everyone is wearing long sleeve shirts and pants. And wasn’t that a time when women wore short skirts?”

Two issues: workplace romance and infidelity. I won’t bother addressing the first, because “Don’t sh@# where you eat” is the best advice. But most people don’t want to hear it.

Infidelity? There’s the rub. If you think so little of your marriage. Have so little respect for your spouse, and yourself. Why would I trust you?

It’s not like divorce is scandalous or difficult to obtain. Have some self discipline. Think about someone besides yourself.

The alternative to Clemens’ practical Yankee mechanic, is Albert Sami’s bored tycoon from an episode of The Twilight Zone. Invited by Satan, he time travels back to his youth. He assumes his knowledge of the future will give him an advantage. True to the spirit of The Twilight Zone he gets what he wants good and hard. His attempts to build back better founder on the rocks of his ignorance of practical details.

Instead of recreating his success, he winds up as the janitor in his old office building.

No doubt some public interest law firm will be receiving a huge payday for negotiating the settlement.

I’d like to see a remake of Phillip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld. There was a version made in 2003. Terrible. They replaced Farmer’s interesting choice of protagonist, 19th century British adventurer Richard Francis Burton, with a generic American astronaut.

Thus, the daily trials and tribulations of the credentialed metropolitan elites.

Compare and contrast with a couple I know from work. He works the night shift at the end of the week. She works the day shift at the start of the week. Average pay, with health benefits, $17/hr. Child care, school and gymnastics are handled by the parent who is off that day. If you ask them, they are living a good life.

How do they do it, lacking college degrees and assorted credentials? “It’s hard sometimes, but we make it work.”

You won’t read about them in the paper.

“I cried because my wife had to give up the partner track at her law firm, until I met a man who had to budget his pennies to pay for his daughter’s clarinet lessons.”

We have satellites with image processing so advanced we can read a license plate number from 200 miles in the sky. And our ancestors were up a tree 50,000 years ago.

Now, imagine you belong to an advanced civilization capable of practical space travel. Don’t you think your surveillance tech would be light years better than the humans who recently mastered powered flight.

Why not be like Yogi Berra? Learn a lot by watching. Use your mastery of the electromagnetic spectrum to sample the mass of data your human subjects have helpfully collected.

Phillip, who is a pilot, thinks he’s going to meet those magnificent men in their flying machines. Dauntless aviators with silk scarves and lots of pluck. After all, these guys just did what no human had ever done, boldly going forth etc. He’s disappointed to learn they are low key pilots with degrees in engineering and mathematics. Then add in the fact that they are more interested in what it’s like to be a prince.

Best summarized as, “You lead the platoon. Your platoon sergeant runs the platoon.”
A good platoon sergeant takes pride in successfully mentoring his platoon leader. That includes allowing the platoon leader to make mistakes. And ensuring those mistakes aren’t career ending types.

A few other observations, gained from experience 30 years ago…

The divide between officers and NCOs in European armies was greater than in the American Army. It wasn’t unusual to find American junior officers in the motor pool turning wrenches and setting packs. Working side by side with your troops was an ethic. To the Brits, there was a clear divide between garrison work as the province of the NCOs and administration, the responsibility of the officers.

In my time, the presence of black senior NCOs in combat units was noticeable. Almost all these men were veterans of combat in Vietnam and had, to borrow a phrase, “found a home in the Army”. As part of the Big Green Machine, those men had the credibility white officers and NCOs lacked. They did not tolerate young kids who acted as if they were “back on the block”.

Unlikely you ever see a SGM under the command of 2LT. By the regulations, customs and courtesies of the service, officers are entitled to a certain level of deference and respect. But a SGM works for a field grade officer and carries that officer’s authority implicitly. Essentially, “I may have to salute you and call you sir. But you can’t make me do anything I’m not already disposed to do.”

Or as I was once told by my troop first sergeant (that’s the guy with the diamond in the middle of his six stripes), “LT, this is the time where I remind you that I work for the Troop Commander.”

You need some STP.

Regiments as independent commands ceased to exist with the permanent establishment of the Army division in 1917.
I suppose one might say being the 43d Colonel of the 23d Infantry Regiment is a more impressive title than Commander of the 2d Brigade of the 2d Infantry Division. As a practical matter it’s the same job.

Short game is where most amateurs are deficient. Wedges and putting are where you add the most strokes.

Is this the time when it’s appropriate to note…if people believe in nothing, they’ll believe in anything?

I then proceeded to hit six 5-woods in a row into the Pacific Ocean, but that didn’t discourage me.

Take the drop, Roy!

He was a hell of a writer and an amazing storyteller.

Concur. Good enough and convenient win out over time. Plus, perspective is important. If you grew up listening to popular music on AM radio, playing records on your record player and dreaming of the day when you might have the money to spring for a quality stereo, technical improvements are welcomed.
You mean I can play my music in the car using your 8 track machine. Sign me up.
You mean I can play my music on this little disc and there’s no pop and hissing. Sign me up.
You mean I can put my entire collection of music on this thing the size of a deck of cards. Sign me up.
You mean I can ditch this player and put all my music on my phone. Sign me up.

I can do the same same for photos and video.

Now the quality of the music is a whole other matter. But I’m not sure if it’s just “not invented by my generation” or it is poor. My parents didn’t hate the Beatles. They just favored Sinatra. What I remember most about their preferences, it was mostly individual artists. Singers, or Broadway show cast recordings.

I’m open to correction, but I remember it as policy during the war, 17 year olds could enlist but the only 18 year olds plus could be sent into the combat zone.

There are a few factors that might explain the characterization as Vietnam Vet vice Vietnam Era

1. He enlisted and lied about his age
2. He served in Vietnam post withdrawal while assigned to duty at an embassy or consulate
3. He was assigned to Vietnam Defense Attaché Office (the rebrand of MACV post withdrawal)
4. He participated in the 1975 evacuation in some manner

Under law, a service member must have served 180 days in country to receive recognition as a Vietnam Vet. Though I imagine there are rules applying to navy personnel who served aboard ship in the Vietnam area and pilots based in Guam or Thailand.

Fun Fact
I served in the Army with a Sergeant who spent 12 months in Thailand, hauling munitions from a port to an Air Force base. Because of the Status of Forces agreement, American soldiers could not operate vehicles off base. The US paid the Thai Royal Army for Thai soldiers to drive the trucks from the port to the base front gate. At which point the Sergeant would take the wheel and make the delivery.

Cold War, 1945 to 1990.

In 1984 a bachelor SP4 with 4 years of service pulled down a cool $779 a month before taxes. Plus free room in the barracks which in the Army could be anything from a 10 man squad bay to the more likely 4 man room. With a communal bathroom. And free meals in the mess hall. This was certainly not the povert pay experienced by draftees prior to 1973 but hardly the stuff of high living. Of course you can’t put a price on the Fun, Travel and Adventure.

The old GI Bill was replaced in 1977 by the VEAP program which required contributions from the soldier. Since replaced in 1985 by the Montgomery Bill which combines features of the old GI Bill with the VEAP plan. Confused yet? I know I was.

You have no idea how difficult it is to get a service connected disability rating from the VA. Once again just to remind you, the subject is Cold War service. A soldier spends 8 years in the infantry, peace time service, chances are they suffer significant hearing damage, maybe even chronic tinnitus. Maybe, if they are really lucky, they might get hearing aids from the VA. The chances of receiving a disability rating are very very low. And the likelihood of any Cold Warrior receiving any form of medical care is near zero unless they are living in abject poverty.

The VA has lots of problems, but Cold War Vets soaking off the government teat is not one of them.

The joke that won the war was so dangerous, it was translated by different people one word at a time. A translator saw two words together and was hospitalized as a precaution.

The US left the ABM treaty under provisions written into the terms of the treaty.

In 1971, Ladislas Farago published The Game of The Foxes. A history of Abwehr operations in Britain and America. His primary source was microfilmed copies of Abwehr station files collected after the war. Were there other more highly restricted files he could not access? Perhaps. I read this book when it was first published and it was quite revealing. Two items stand out to me almost 50 years later. First, the detailed back story about Abwehr attempts to infiltrate agents into the US. In particular the Long Island and Florida infiltrators who were captured and tried and executed by a military court. (I recall the whole program as being hastily thrown together and poorly planned.)
The one that struck me was the story of the Norden bomb sight. The Abwehr obtained critical Norden information.

“In spite of the security precautions, the entire Norden system had been passed to the Germans before the war started. Herman W. Lang, a German spy, had been employed by the Carl L. Norden Company. During a visit to Germany in 1938, Lang conferred with German military authorities and reconstructed plans of the confidential materials from memory. In 1941, Lang, along with the 32 other German agents of the Duquesne Spy Ring, was arrested by the FBI and convicted in the largest espionage prosecution in U.S. history. He received a sentence of 18 years in prison on espionage charges and a two-year concurrent sentence under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”

AWACS does not control air defense guns and missiles. It does provide early warning, like the Chain Home System. And it allows US/NATO to allocate assets to the greatest threats. Even modern ADA systems use a combination of target acquisition and target designation radar. If it flies, it dies, is complemented by, if you turn on your radar, I can see you and I have a good chance at killing you.

Operationally, the military objective for air ops in North Vietnam was to attack the nation’s ability to make war. Similar to the objectives in the air war over Germany and Japan. The objective during both Iraqi campaigns was to smother Iraqi air defenses and gain air supremacy. Plus, Iraq’s air defenses weren’t much more advanced than the systems deployed by North Vietnam. (And rumored to be operated by Soviet advisors.)

Anyone who has been through basic training knows the correct term is…

Birth Control Glasses

Apparently he doesn’t understand the US Constitution. Or the principles that animates the Declaration of Independence. The Foinders themselves were mindful of the contradictions inherent in their actions vice their political philosophy. Regardless, the public and the courts didn’t have to invent rights, they just had to be enforced.

The charges against senior employees of a major American bank, a rare move in the decade since the financial crisis

Decade: 2008-2018
President: Barrack Obama
Party: Democrat

Dots? They connect!

Pass

Our own Army is embarking on the same journey.

Things haven’t changed much in Chicago these last 90 years

(Malone to Ness, at the entrance to Chicago’s downtown post office)
Mr. Ness, everybody knows where the booze is. The problem isn’t finding it, the problem is who wants to cross Capone.

I’ve lived in Collin County for 30 years. When I moved here in the 1980s, I don’t remember a single mosque. Today I can point out four that are on busy street corners. (Prime real estate or A sites as we used to call them in the QSR business.)

There are 7 mosques within 15 miles of where I live.

I lived in Alabama right after they integrated the schools. This lady has no earthly idea about actual discrimination.

Sell their holdings at what cost?

US Treasuries would have to be sold on the open market. How big a discount would the Chinese be willing to accept to “make a point”?

Kennedy was a smart operator.

Who gave away Eastern Europe? President Roosevelt

Who lost China? President Truman

Who let the Russians put up the first satellite? President Eisenhower

Who let the Russians beat us to the moon? It wasn’t going to be President Kennedy!

This is one method employed by Japan to throttle imports of goods that could compete with domestic manufacture. Time is money and the time your imported goods spend “awaiting inspection” can be costly.

Overall, it held together pretty well. The boldest choice the producers made was how living in the US as “Americans” for 20 years caused Phillip to soften and Elizabeth to harden. Yes, I know we often joke about “grl power” but in this instance it follows well given Elizabeth’s devotion to the USSR and her training. How they change is, while a bit over played, still plausible.

I’ve been aware of Roth the author since the publication of Portnoy’s Complaint, which I recall was an event and was accompanied by much controversy. Yet, I’ve never been even marginally interested in reading anything he’s written.

I’ve read a good deal of Wolfe, starting when a friend gave me a copy of The Right Stuff. Bonfire was quite good especially because I read it while living in New York, where the cast of characters was on display every day. I found A Man In Full to be so so and at times incomprehensible. No interest in reading a sixty year old’s interpretation of the sexual adventures of a college girl.

Germany is doing well, and yet it is received wisdom among some Germans that they are running out of workers.

I’ve always wondered, when did the aliens replace conservative Congressman John McCain with maverick iconoclastic Senator John McCain?

I have met far too many young men who have no idea that shoes should be stored with shoe trees, cleaned with saddle soap and polished periodically. Yes, shoes will eventually wear out, but good quality shoes like Allen Edmonds can be re-soled two or three times. And the best practice is to never wear the same pair on subsequent days.

Don’t get me started on those bushy beards. Cripes, you’d think Hayes was still President. Since when do men take their barbering tips from the Smith Brothers?

If only Schliemann had been foresighted enough to use archeological techniques developed in the 1960s, he’d almost certainly never have lived long enough to have proved the existence of Troy.

Enforcing federal law and authority at the border with the Army is more likely than not, well within the powers of any President. The purpose behind the restrictions was to prevent a recurrence of federal military involvement in the domestic civil affairs of the former Confederate states. This is why George Bush was forced to wait on a formal request from Governor Blanco to deploy federal troops to aid following Katrina.
Eisenhower used the 101st Airborne to enforce the federal court order to integrate Little Rock Central High School.
Posse Comitatus restrictions do not apply to the National Guard, the Navy or the Coast Guard.

Cult? Is it like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography?

Astonishing nobody has mentioned the ultimate midnight movie, Rocky Horror Picture Show. Though it’s probably less cultish when your prime fans are more inspired by the early bird special at Denny’s.

Princess Bride is eminently quotable. As is Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or Office Space. To me, The Big Lebowski, is more visual. Granted, there are some quotable lines. And quotability is not the key feature of a cult movie. It’s a garnish.

I’ll also note that the audiences for Rocky Horror were typically 50/50 men and women and mostly couples.

Naked short selling is illegal and a retail investor won’t be allowed to initiate the trade. The simple version: for me to do a short sale, my broker must have access to an account that holds the stock and where the owner has authorized the broker to permit a short sale.

This is not to say naked short sales don’t happen. They can be quite profitable, meaning there are opportunities for corrupt insiders. People who have the access and influence to break the rules.

NB: Short interest, the percentage of a stock that is borrowed for short sales, is public information. It’s not unusual for companies subjected to attacks by short sellers to tell their shareholders, “Tell your broker your shares may not be lent to short sellers.”

It’s more likely American armed forces would stand aside from a conflict between the citizens and the state.

American abolitionists were the single issue voters of the 19th century.

In fact, I’d love to see someone take a choice slice off the operating net spendable of , say, Pratt and Whitney, by making cheaper better jet engines.

Rolls Royce and GE/SNECMA ain’t chopped liver.

One is free healthcare.

(Shamelessly purloined from PJ O’Rourke)

Ideally, comparative advantage leads to the most productive use of resources. In practice, there are other considerations. The challenge is, where does one draw the line between important other considerations and self interest masquerading as such. There is not a satisfactory answer to the question.
Free trade policy avoids government favoritism at the expense of some subset of the citizens. Fair trade policy argues the state can make unbiased choices on our behalf.
Pick your poison.

RE: immigration

Votes are more important than dollars. The problem we’ve faced for 30 years is no national politician of any influence has consistently pounded the table about illegal immigration. No amount of money and social opprobrium can withstand the tide of millions of voters who recognize the time of an idea has come.

I’m not persuaded by Trump’s trade ideas. It reminds me of the arguments made by steel workers in the 1970s. As their demands sucked the profits out of integrated steel plants. Maybe as an ad campaign it makes some sense as I don’t think it’s going to have as large an impact as the alarmists say.

Irony-One of the statements of public support was from the CEO of Nucor. A company built on the idea that one could recycle steel scrap in efficient electric furnaces and out compete the giant integrated steel companies.

Interesting observation, except none of them were ever elected to any office. In fact, I don’t recall any of them ever running for a political office or even a position in a political party. How does one define leadership? Or are we measuring notoriety?

Buckley and the gang from National Review synthesized the foundational principles of post war American conservativism. Goldwater, Reagan and many others (mostly westerners) became the elected standard bearers. Even John McMain. A review of the politics espoused by Congressman McCain demonstrates a fealty to Reaganism that stands in stark contrast to the growth in office of Senator John McCain. One almost wonders how they can be the same person.

I suppose we can argue about the influence of neo conservatives from the late 1970s to about 2008. That’s a historical discussion. Conservatism is, as should any dynamic philosophy, adapting and evolving. Rather than the editorial pages of the Weekly Standard, we should look to the men and women who have been elected, as the revealed preference of the movement.

I don’t consider conservative principles to be old and stale. But one would have to be an impractical fool to disregard the actuality before one’s eyes. Practical politics has over driven the headlights of political philosophy and its’s up to those who lay claim to intellectual leadership to examine things as they are.

Instead we have an estate of clergy excommunicating voters and politicians for the heresy of winning and exercising political power.

In 2020, Trump will declare his presidency the most awesomest in history and decline to run for a second term. Like Seinfeld, he will leave ’em wanting more.

I would leave home on a cold November day to vote for his opponent.

Biden is a small minded bully.

I remember that. Two things stand out. First, there was a popular poster of Fields playing cards in that ridiculously large top hat. Second, there was a tell all book (or maybe an unauthorized biography) written by a former lover or wife, that was condemned by Fields’ family. Quite the controversy. I also remember that Fields’ foe Mae West had a brief revival I think because she was in Myra Breckenridge.

Fields hasn’t aged well. Ironic. He was a very big star. So big he was able to negotiate creative control of his films. He was also very methodical in writing and developing his material. Plus he was very physically talented. Of course he was also a major league alcoholic.
I’ve enjoyed him for years, though i do not share the popular opinion that The Bank Dick is the best film.
On a related note…
I worked with a youngish 30 something guy who had no familiarity with The Marx Brothers, the 3 Stooges and Abbot and Costello. The reason? “I don’t watch black and white movies.”

Those kids, reading Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang, unbuckling their knickerbockers and trailing the aroma of sen sen. We’ve got trouble, yes we’ve got trouble…

People seem to think Washington is like an Allen Drury novel when the reality is more like a Christopher Buckley novel.

Putin’s objective in interfering in the 2016 election, assuming there was an actual operational plan vice a smorgasbord of spoiling attacks, is still obscure. And yet every day we are assured by the best and the brightest that the election of Trump/Clinton is more favorable to Russia.

What fascinates me the most is how the media have completely ignored the second rule of good journalism, “If your mother says she loves you, check it!” (We all know the first rule of journalism is never get involved in a flame war in Asia.)

Hans Gruber

I imagine Google’s cost accounting is now so complicated that even the CFO has only a vague idea of what lines of business are money makers.

Just like the Presidential Election check box, there should be a line on the 1040 that reads, “I would like $5 of my tax payment to go to funding a wall on the border with Mexico.”

Then let’s count those votes. Far better than any survey or poll.

I’m guessing not. Bob Falfa in American Grafitti is a younger Han Solo.

I hope we can all agree on the general principle that every nation has a right to pursue their own interests. Regardless of whether that choice pleases Putin, Trump or the UN. Granted, those choices need to be tempered by a prudent regard for how their actions appear to their neighbors. Follow the Croce rule and “Don’t tug on Superman’s cape.” Or, if you are Athens, don’t undermine Sparta’s allies and expect that to be a cost free foreign policy.

I question the wisdom of expanding NATO right up to the Russian border. But I understand the desire by any Eastern European nation to seek security ties with the west. The Russians aren’t known for their tolerance of independent choice by their neighbors.

I find Russia’s complaints often smack of, “Just because I killed my parents, doesn’t mean you aren’t obligated to treat me like an orphan.”

Rick Wilson is being feted for some final week television commercials that have his fan boys all atwitter.
His response is a model of post modern modesty, “Gee. Aw shucks, I was just doing my patriotic duty.”

Like Ramsay McDonald, he is a modest man with much to be modest about.

This is truly a disappointing ending to the Al Franken Century.

As I recollect, the extremely low assessed value of the club is because under prop 13 assessments are only updated under very specific terms. Each member only owns a small percentage of the club. There would need to be a 51% change over in members to trigger a re-assessment. I think they actually had to go to court to establish this exception applied to private clubs.

Gladwell did a whole podcast about how and why private golf clubs pay such low annual property taxes. It’s almost an hour of “the people being exploited by the rich and abetted by corrupt public officials”.
In fairness, his podcast on why McDonalds French fries don’t and can’t, taste like we remember, was informative and entertaining. Spoiler: it’s the beef tallow!

25%

Why didn’t you tell me we had a holocaust cloak?

Another in a series of gobsmackingly dense decisions by a league official.

Either it was a serious offense, in which case it warranted a serious and immediate sanction; or it wasn’t. In which case a slap on the wrist was appropriate.

Serious = immediate suspension for the duration of the series

Not serious = $100,000 fine

I’m not much of fan of Kennesaw Mountain Landis. He comes down from history as a sort of self righteous prig with delusions of grandeur. I don’t doubt he would have ruled decisively. Not the namby pamby serious but not serious sanction of suspending in the future. Heck a one game suspension would have struck the right note.

Why does a Marine rifle squad have 11 men, while an Army infantry squad only has 10.

Because infantry squads don’t have a photographer.

According to the rules, the home team gets to choose which dugout is assigned to which team.

I’ve never been there, but the mythology of Dodger Stadium is that the dugout on the third base side is nice and shady. Just a little home field advantage.

Altuve might be the fastest player in the majors. At least the AL. Twice in the playoffs he’s run from second to home in the time it’s taken the batter to get to first base.

Better…

His description of the Congresswoman’s remarks at the dedication of the FBI office in Miami. The one honoring the agents killed in a robbery shoot out. So, a somewhat solemn occasion, where her remarks consisted of her bragging about how SHE got the money for the building.

Kind of like when Regagan went to Normandy and gave that memorable speech about how he got a funding increase for the American Battle Monuments Commission.

I’m halfway convinced they’ve never read any Phillip K. Dick.

Replicants are people.

Alternatively…

You idiots didn’t blow it up!

My first reaction was the same. But I think there’s something we can build upon. All the Nazi scientists rounded up in Operation Paperclip were under government control and protection into the 50s. Sure most of them weren’t dyed in the wool Nazis, either opportunists like Von Braun or scientists doing a job regardless of motivation.
A secret government office employs unlimited resources to protect Nazi scientist war criminals while feeding an unending supply of pawns to the Nazi hunters. Said pawns, 40ish men and women, are former concentration camp guards, police officers and SS men who know the identities of the protected Nazis. The pawns posses key information, such as, “I saw Professor Schmidt in the parking lot of the Schaumburg Mall. He said I was mistaken. He said his name was Sanchez and that he was an emigre from Argentina. I never forget a face.”
To make things more Day of the Condor/Parallax View (i.e. 70ish), imply that the Odessa Ring of old comrades is a mask, controlled by the CIA.

Does it really need to be restated…

When given a choice between Republicans who act like Democrats and actual Democrats, the average voter almost always accepts no imitation.

Professor Quincy Adams Wagstaff of Huxley College.

Not virtue signaling. More like the Wagstaff Rule…whatever the right is for, we’re against it.

Commercial truck driver (CDL) holders are recorded in two national data bases. You haven’t been able to maintain more than one state license since about 1988.

Welcome to the part of the movie where the monster turns on its creator.

There’s a significant gulf between mastering a skill through well planned deliberate practice and performing at the professional level. It took more than 10,000 hours to qualify high school senior Jordan Spieth for an invitation to the Byron Nelson.

There’s something or many things missing from what we are being told. I’m at a loss to construct a plausible situation that accounts for the few facts we know.

1. I see a lot of snarling about Space 1999. They were actors, taking parts to make the mortgage and put food on the table. I don’t criticize my mechanic because he used to work on BMWs and now he works on Fords.

2. Tucker is one of my personal favorites and in part because of Landau’s characterization of Abe. He’s just so good, like when he tells Jeff Bridges he’s pulled off a publicity coup and says “You can’t buy that kind of publicity.” When Bridges asked him how he pulled it off he says, “I bought it……for money.”

Hypothesis: If your vote in 2016 was “Never Trump” you are likely to be in favor of amnesty and be an immigration “wet”.

All she had to do was throw it in the trash. Or, given the age and condition, one trip through the washing machine would probably have done it in.

The only reason we don’t think the French Empire was unmitigated evil is because the Belgians were worse.

Every President since FDR could have made that speech. Well, at least up to 2009.