Guard Dog

I don't follow it much but it is quite cool that we are getting EPL games on NBC here in the US these days

The unique thing about Trump is he doesn't care. I don't recall a confrontation between the Executive and Congress where neither ever backs down. I must admit I am VERY intrigued that it might finally be happening! When you come to the realizations the whole thing is just a s--t show no matter who is in control and the outcomes are ultimately meaningless politics does become a little more entertaining when guys like Trump have power.

No, I missed the 'year zero' thing you mentioned somewhere earlier. The idea behind Year Zero is that all culture and traditions within a society must be completely destroyed or discarded and a new revolutionary culture must replace it, starting from scratch. All history of a nation or people before Year Zero is deemed largely irrelevant, as it will ideally be purged and replaced from the ground up. China & Cambodia have both done this in the past. Complete disassociation with all culture and history prior to the first day of the communist regime. Only with them is was punishable by death. I doubt we'll ever do anything exactly like it. But a great deal of effort seems to be going into erasing or poisoning things in our cultural past that don't really jive with modern sentiment. When old Christmas songs and cartoons are being banned, old books banned, etc it's not good. It's faulty reasoning to assume that event A must lead to event B (the old slippery slope) but it's no unreasonable to worry about it.

Grom, when did the free exercise clause fall out of favor? In any case the thing that annoys me about this is not just it's origin as a private construction but it's stated purpose as a memorial and not an explicitly religious statement. To my thinking that does not even allow this to be a first amendment issue. This isn't genuine concern over the establishment of a state religion this is picking a fight in purely ideological terms. It's using the court to impose their will on everyone else. It is petty. If this were something the state paid for and erected on state property with a bible verse or something inscribed on it I might even take his side on this. It's not. It's a 100+ year old war memorial that has existed all this time without someone trying to have it torn down. The thing is this can jeopardize places like Arlington where headstones are provided with crosses, stars of david, crescent moons, etc depending on the preference of the service member. All are religious symbols bought with tax dollars and placed on public land. My comment here really is less about the merits of his case in a legal sense. Rather that he and his organization are first rate mother f-----g a------s for picking such a petty fight to begin with.

Elizabeth Warren is running in 2020. No surprise to anyone there. God I miss the good ol' days when a politician so thoroughly humiliated and discredited themselves as she has had the good sense to just go away.

People are just incapable of minding their own goddamned business and determined to be offended by anything their eyes happen to see. Remember that "Year Zero" thing I was talking about earlier? It could happen.

I bought this on my Kindle last night and was up half the night with it. Couldn't put it down. Really great book:

I can fix your problem right now: repeal the 17th Amendment. Make the Senate the representative of the states governments and the .House the representatives of the people of the states. The way it was supposed to be anyway. The shenanigans that led to the 17th Amendment would be much harder to get away with today.

The US political system is the worst one in the world.... except for all the others. In truth it isn't perfect and cannot BE perfected but it is pretty good in that is it reasonably protects the rights of the individual and checks (for the most part) the excesses of the state. I would prefer the trend reversed towards decentralization but if you look over the last 150 years it does ebb and flow one way or the other. All in all it's messy, noisy, sometimes chaotic, but it an't bad.

Heck the modern presidency would be unrecognizable to the people of 1887 let alone 1787. It started going wrong with Woodrow Wilson and while not every subsequent president left the office more distorted (and more powerful) than he found it the trend has been going in the wrong direction ever since. The real blame is Congress IMO. They have sat mute while one executive after another has run roughshod over their enumerated powers. This whole tariff business is a great example. The power to levy tax belongs to the Congress. They allowed Wilson to use executive authority to levy tariffs to convince neutral nations to help in WWI. Or discourage them from dealing with the central powers. Congress can (and God knows should) take that back at any time. But they won't.

I thought I recognized her name! I read her book. Great story. One comment from one of the dog's handlers touched a nerve with me. When he separated from the service all he could think is "now what?" I can sympathize with both him and Dyngo. I had a difficult time readjusting to civilian life for a little while after I got out myself. And I was only in for 5 years. And never got closer to combat than the every edge of it. What people don't understand about the military is how much your life revolves around it. Yes it is a job with regular hours. They might be long hours but you don't work around the clock. But you are ALWAYS a Marine, Soldier, Airman, Sailor even when you are not on duty. And so is literally everyone around you. Your work life, social life, etc all include a small group of people who have that shared experience. Nothing like that exists outside of the military. Except maybe the mafia or something. It's hard for a human to adjust to that being gone. How much harder is it for a habit driven creature like a dog who doesn't know it's coming and doesn't understand why it happened?

It's been posted before i'm sure... but it IS funny

I'm making corn and peppers soup in the slow cooker.

So sorry to hear that Hurlshot. For you and especially your wife & children.

Even back in my party days I made it a point to stay home on New Years eve. Someone asked my why once and I told them a story about a die hard hunter I once knew who refused to enter the woods on the first day of hunting season. He said on the opening weekend the woods are full of amateurs, many of whom never touch a gun all year long and only hunt that one weekend and lose interest after. "If you're gonna be shot by another hunter, opening weekend is when it will happen". Substitute gun for booze and THAT'S why I stay home on NY Eve!

I miss the guy who posted like HK-47. That was funny... for a little while

I have a late nominee for the honor of "Stupidest comment of 2018". WWMC Channel 5 right here in Memphis had a news story about the American who just completed crossing Antarctica on foot a few days ago. Apparently he is the first American to do such a thing. The news anchors were doing their little "discussion" about the story when one mentions the added difficulty of doing that during the winter. Ummm... apparently in broadcasting school they never mentioned that Antarctica is in the southern hemisphere. Not that there is a huge seasonal difference there.

I don't know if you'd call them urban fantasy, but I enjoyed The Scar and Perdido Street Station by China Miéville

Now reading: It's pretty good. Nothing profound or earth shattering. Also reading: Animal psychology and cognition has always been a subject that fascinates me.Unfortunately books on this subject tend to anthropomorphize and this one dips into that well.. A Dog's Mind by Bruce Vogel is one of the good ones. Inside a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz is another. If anyone knows about others I'd love to hear some suggestions.

In 1983 Isaac Asimov wrote a piece on his predictions for the year 2019. He missed far more than he hit but some did work out as predicted. It's interesting to see his take: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/12/27/35-years-ago-isaac-asimov-was-asked-by-the-star-to-predict-the-world-of-2019-here-is-what-he-wrote.html

OK that would have freaked me out. But I have a thing about confined spaces. Not quite claustrophobia, but not nothing either.

You mean like this?

I bought myself a present today: https://www.traditionsfirearms.com/product/Trapper-Pistol-Kit-.50-cal-Percussion I have always wanted to build one of these! I'm looking over some samples of stain for the wood body & grip. I'm thinking a dark color, coffee color, would look nice. But I'm open to suggestions.

It's likely just the shell with everything removed. I once saw an AT4 tube in a pawn shop. Once they have been fired they cannot be reused. Remove the trigger and bracket and it's just a steel tube with a fiberglass cover. Looks cool on the wall though I guess.

I thought about going to the VFW today but it seems like such a hassle. It's quiet and peaceful here.