Guard Dog

This is a pretty good read from Ted Gup. The Washington Post had it yesterday. I read one of his books a while back. In short he wants to move to Great Britain because he does not recognize the US anymore. He seems to think the election of Trump represents a fundamental shift in the attitudes of the US. I would not encourage or discourage him or anyone else from any course of action. But it is an error to look at the outcome of any election as an indication of a change in American attitudes. As we have gone on at some length here about voters only had two realistic choices to be President in 2016. Both were deeply flawed and both unacceptable to a very, very large number of people. And even if that were not the case you cannot separate the election of one candidate from the candidacy of the losing side. This person had as much to do with Trump winning as anyone did: Trump is President today because more people found her unacceptable than they did him. She has been in political office for 16 years and in politics for thirty. You know what you are getting with her. It wasn't something good to most folks. Trump was a known name but he'd never held office. You didn't know he was going to be an impulsive dolt who has no idea what he is doing and couldn't find the truth if it were painted on the wall in front of him .But you KNEW Clinton was dishonest, mean-spirited, and most damning of all, obsessed with political power. You can't fault them for choosing door number two. Or door number one because they DIDN'T want the unknown but definitively crass and loud alternative. No matter who won in 2016 the 45th President was going to be a bad one. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ive-got-my-trump-card-will-i-use-it-to-leave-the-us/2019/05/27/eb347a1c-7d7c-11e9-8ede-f4abf521ef17_story.html?utm_term=.9124d00f9ff8

OK, the short strokes of a long story: In early 2016 the Clinton Campaign and the DNC hired a company called Fusion GPS for opposition research on Trump's camp. Fusion GPS used a former MI-6 agent named Christopher Steele to do the work. The Steele Dossier is the genesis of the whole Trump-Russia thing. He is the one who said Russia was helping Trump get elected and that Russian intel & the Trump Campaign were working together to win the election. After the election Steele and Fusion continued to research and send info to British and American intel. Now, Fusion does not work for free and the election was over so who is paying for this? The CIA didn't take it seriously because the Steele Dossier was unverifiable and is some respects, not credible. The FBI seems to have believed every word of it and they got warrants, wiretaps, and a full on investigation. That is pretty much what you would expect the FBI to do. Kinda why they are even a thing. You have heard the term "Crossfire Hurricane", and not the Rolling Stones song, that is it. Now, was this an investigation or a political witch hunt? I tend to think it was more the former. The FBI is not and has never been apolitical (nice dress there J Edgar). And some of it's agents and even directors have used the agency for political advocacy under the guise of law enforcement activity. So did that happen here? That is where we are. I don't know, but I kind of doubt it. You know me, I have less than zero faith in the fidelity and abilities of our Federal agencies. I have no doubt at all the Obama admin would encourage the FBI to help his tribe. I have no doubt they would be willing. But after the election, using dubious info to try and take down a President KNOWING it was false? I have a hard time buying that one. Sounds like a Brad Thor novel. If they were pursuing the matter after the investigation I think they thought there was something there. Strictly my opinion there. When the whole thing hit the news Russia denied everything loudly... too loudly. It made the Trump Camp look worse but Russia is playing it's own game. Like Gromnir has expounded on at length their aim was likely to undermine faith in our electoral system. IMO they needn't have bothered. The DemocRATs and RATpublcans are doing a fine job of that all by themselves. The Mueller Report has since debunked the idea of Trump colluding with Russian intel. But it's no joke the Russians did try to play a role. I'm a little iffy on this on though You can't actually "steal" and election in the US. It's too decentralized. And I don't think hacking a private entity like the DNC is election tampering. It's just a plain old cyber crime. And besides. as O have said before, had the people who actually worked in the DNC exercised even a modicum of professionalism in their communications those leaked e-mails would have amounted to nothing. Edit: The FBI investigation did not begin with Steele. It was going on a year before that. IIRC Trump becoming a target was a result of the Steele Dossier.

The Gulf Ware does not, in any way compare to what has happened since 9-11. All we did was push an overmatched enemy out of a Kuwait. We didn't follow that up with an invasion and never ending occupation of a fractured country where everyone hates each other almost as much as they hate you. So while the combat operations part of it are certainly comparative, not that I saw much of that, the two experiences don't really compare over all. But I think they were referring to the military experience in general. And considering I received a college education mostly paid for by that experience, and the value of what I learned and did while in, it was definitely positive. I found that twitter feed. Most of the reply (70-30 my my estimate from just scrolling) were more positive than negative. The links ktchong provided were all negative. And you have to remember he (ktchong) has his own axe to grind.

OK... one more:

Bill Buckner passed away today

My experience was largely positive. Things sound bad when only the negative things are repeated. And there are folks who only want to hear the negative things.

Went to a memorial service at the West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery this morning. Didn't really want to but the whole VFW chapter was there so I thought I should. Just got home. Spending the rest of the day smoking jerky, drinking iced tea and catching the Marlins/Nats game on the radio.

Watched "The Outlaw King" on NetFlix. It was pretty good. A lot of events were skipped or glossed over but as far as historical accuracy it was pretty good for a movie. There was a little bit of creative license but I guess that is to be expected. Stephen Dillane was Edward I. Whaddya know! Stannis finally became King!

That DID actually happen though. Whether or not what was done was illegal is a different question. As far as ethical... well that is not something either tribe of rats munch concerns themselves with. @James I was more thinking 10, 20 years down the road rather than 2020.

I thought this was a pretty good read about people "recovering" and leaving hate groups and what made them decide to do it. The short answer is this: Be nice to everyone you meet. Be generous and friendly even when you don't have to be. Even when you don't want to be. Viktor Frankel once wrote that there are only two races, the decent and the indecent. Be the former always. You never know who it might have an impact on. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/public-safety/story/2019-05-11/cure-for-hate-former-skinheads

When it comes to politics it is smart to remember all things are cyclical. The biggest error is to assume how things are now is how they will always be. Ktchong is right, they time will come when some people regret changing their state to a popular vote system. Especially if those electoral votes would have tipped the election to "their" Rat Tribe candidate and instead went to the "other" Rat Tribe candidate.

I'd rather drink with Mark Anthony. I bet that guy could have a good time.

Turns out there was an alternate ending that was never filmed. It didn't change things is a big way, but did flesh out Danereys magical ride from hero to dragon Hitler a little more. Jorah Mormont survives the battle of Winterfell and becomes one of the heroes of the North. During the after party he's hanging out with the rest and not with Dany which, as you all saw, pisses her off. Some girls like to be the center of attention. After he also advises her to wait and not attack (how about not splitting your force when you're already outnumbered???) That makes her even madder after she ignores everyone's advice and Rhaegal gets killed. He joins the Tyrion - Varys discussion but refuses to go along, tell her about it. Then has to talk her out of killing all of them and Jon too. She tells him what she is going to do to Kings Landing. Afterwards he has a conversation with Jon after Tyrion does and agrees with what he's going to do. The rest plays out the same. He is sent to the Nights Watch with Jon. Also they have a conversation with Tormund at the wall that the Nights Watch will protect the wildlings north of the wall too. Or some such. When Jon goes north with them he tells Mormont he's not coming back. Now, while that does help out Dany's story a little it sounds out of character for Mormont. But there was a lot of that going around. Probably better they didn't go that way.

Actually she did that herself. Hard to say if Octavian would have executed her or not. But whatever he did she wasn't going to like it.

I am not against it because a church is a voluntary association. You can come and go as you please. If the church tells you "thou shalt not do this" you can go right ahead and do it anyway. The government on the other hand has guns, cops, an utter lack of forbearance and a rather twisted view of what it's role in your life ought to be.

I just took a truck load of hampers full of veggies from the garden to the farmer's market in Covington. I've got $174 burning a hole in my pocket now. But now I have to can or freeze everything I didn't sell. Busy, busy.

Well, it's been 24 Hours Hurl and no takers. Our asking price might be too steep. So, hey Brit's forget the scones. We'll take just the hat and half glass of beer and you can have Pence for free. Call it a sweetener.

Folks, I think Alabama has become schizophrenic. Just days after essentially banning abortion they did something good: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/445388-alabama-votes-to-end-marriage-licenses?fbclid=IwAR0ZaTBhi_HXyxmXXsbMiHIFEO6BxUGUdKLmqR_0DApisUD87oBTeI0sB8c Alabama has ended the requirement for marriage licenses. Any couple who wants to be married needs only to file an affidavit with the court or county office. This was apparently done because licenses for gay couples were being held up intentionally. Ironically, if every state had just done this from the get-go Obgerfell never even needed to be a thing. It rubs me the wrong way that consenting adults need to supplicate themselves before the goddamned government and beg their permission to get married (in the form of a license). So, kudos to Alabama on that. But don't gloat, you're only one for two this week.

Putting Imperator Rome down for a while. If you play as a major power you can't lose. As a city state or minor power you can't win. But my real complaint with it is all the names of places, tech, visuals, etc are Roman no matter what culture type you play. That is pretty lazy. It's actually not a bad game, just not a complete one. Let's see what gets added in the upcoming DLCs.

Baldur's Gate series. Icewind Dale to a lesser extent. I've played them to death. In fact I'm sick of them. But there was never been one since I was so into. Edit: Oh and Master of Orion II.

OK, I'm done with Sanderson. I see no point in reading any more of that series. It's not that it's bad, it's unoriginal. I think some of Kaladin's lines were later cut and pasted into his WoT books for Mat Cauthon. Good fantasy writing is rare IMO and stands out when you find it. This ain't it.

Why settle for the knock off version. If the Brits would like we can let them have the real thing at a very reasonable price. Say, a half a pint of Bass, a plate of day old scones (one bite taken out) and a hat that may or may not have belonged to Winston Churchill. So... what do you say Great Britain? Do we have a deal?

Now reading: Half way through. This happened in my lifetime but I knew nothing about what really happened. Also reading: I finally caved in to peer pressure, here and elsewhere. I usually hate fantasy but I don't hate this one... yet. Still on guard for the cliche parade though.