Guard Dog

Now reading this: & this:

The Monroe Doctrine is sounding better every minute. We don't need to worry about European colonies in the Americas any more or European powers "taking over" countries in North or South America. But the second part of it, the idea that what happens East of the Caribbean or West of the Aleutians being none of our business is worth dusting off and considering. Very few of our foreign interventions have turned out well. In fact the last one I'd call a success was in 1991 in Kuwait. If I were in charge I would not engage countries like Iran in agreements like this. Rather I'd make it clear that any use of nuclear weapons against the US or an ally would be met with a nuclear response. That policy has kept the world at peace.

You've already voiced your particular opinion on this specific deal, but not 100% sure what you mean on 'agreements of this kind with foriegn nations'. Is it a libertarian thing or something else? It's a Guard Dog thing. Commerce with all nations alliance with none. Of course that ship sailed long ago. But I'm 100% non-interventionist when it comes to telling other nation what they can and can't do within their borders.

OK, you all know what I think of agreements of this kind with foreign nations. But let's put that aside for a moment. It was a weak deal negotiated by a weak Presidential Administration and the folks in Europe who are practiced in looking the other way on things they don't want to know about, and who just wanted this to all go away. To say they it accomplished the goal of killing Iran's nuclear weapon program was just a wishful lie we all told each other. Nothing about the Iranian governments dealing with it's neighbors or the west leads anyone to believe they were negotiating in good faith. They are a bad actor. And even for all that abrogating this agreement is a mistake. Iran has not (Israel's evidence notwithstanding) violated it openly. And agreement made with the US must not be only good until the next election. If it were no one will negotiate with the US. And to do with now, literally weeks from a negotiation with North Korea sends a bad message. This was an error.

Then he's in trouble. You have to be 21 to buy those in most states. Frogs only live like 5-7 years.

Well the NRA President does not actually DO anything. It's a figurehead position. The real power in the NRA is the CEO & Executive Vice President which is currently Wayne LaPierre. And has been for as long as I can remember. He's a political hack that loves stirring up trouble. Exactly what you DON'T want him to do. But his tactic has been to scare people into joining the NRA with the whole "they are coming to take your guns" thing. And I'm not saying he's wrong about that because that is the ultimate end the political left is striving for. But It's not how I'd handle the messaging if I was in charge. You don't wrestle with Again, that's the EXTREME left (which also tend to be the more vocal, as it is on the other side). Despite the fact that all of the evidence showing that a reduction in guns is the way to go, doing the whole 'feds smash into your house to sieze your guns' nightmare (if they're illegal, that's another matter entirely) that he pushes isn't going to happen. Voluntary buybacks and stuff (which is what Australia did I believe) are fine They were not voluntary. And the extreme left is just vocal about it. The middle left is content to take the incremental approach. "We don't want to ban all guns, just these dangerous ones" then "those dangerous ones" then "these other dangerous ones". Then it's "see we're letting you keep your shotguns and old hunting rifles". Then a few years later they come for those. Try to do it all at once and it will be civil war. Do it incrementally over time and in the name of "commonsense reform" and "safety" and by the time people realize what's happening they don't have the means to resist if they even wanted to. It's like boiling a frog. Throw him in a pot of boiling water and he jumps out. Put him in a pot of warm water and slowly turn up the heat and by the time he realizes what's happening he's cooked.

I'd say that's probably accurate. He definitely was practiced in telling his staff in general what he wanted then going hands off to let them worry about how to do it.

You never heard of the Iran-Contra affair? Copy pasted from the net: The shortest version of it is that the US government (Reagan administration, specifically) - in secret - made deals that provided weapons to groups in Iran (which was under a weapons embargo at the time, meaning nobody in the world could give them arms). The money from those weapons was funnelled to a rebel group (the Contras) in Nicaragua that was fighting the legitimately-elected government of that country (because we didn't like that government's policies). The US was, at the time, explicitly prohibited from giving money directly to the Contras by the Boland Amendment, which is why we resorted to such underhanded tactics in the first place. During the hearings, which were some of the first major court proceedings to be broadcast live in the United States (possibly the first), there were serious allegations that President Reagan had been involved in the planning and execution of the affair. This, if proven, would have been an impeachable offense and could have brought down one of the US' most popular Presidents. Reagan claimed to not remember having any part in any meetings or ever having been aware of it. He didn't actively deny it, but claimed "I do not recall" eighty-eight times in eight hours of testimony. Oliver North, who was the head of the operation, admitted to having shredded a ton of documents - likely anything that would have linked the scandal to the President - but the exact contents of many of those documents were never fully disclosed and no link to Reagan could ever be proven. Reagan was a "big picture" guy. I believe he was not aware of the details. I suspect it went down something like this: Reagan: "Bob, Id really like to do something to help the Contras out. Would you like a jellybean?" Robert McFarland (NSA) : "I'll look into it Mr. President" Robert McFarland: "John, how can we get funds to the Contras?" John Poindexter: "Leave it to me Bob" And on it goes from there

Well the NRA President does not actually DO anything. It's a figurehead position. The real power in the NRA is the CEO & Executive Vice President which is currently Wayne LaPierre. And has been for as long as I can remember. He's a political hack that loves stirring up trouble. Exactly what you DON'T want him to do. But his tactic has been to scare people into joining the NRA with the whole "they are coming to take your guns" thing. And I'm not saying he's wrong about that because that is the ultimate end the political left is striving for. But It's not how I'd handle the messaging if I was in charge. You don't wrestle with pigs. You just get dirty and the pigs like it. But I am in the NRA. And a lifetime member at that. Not because I like them of the leadership but because it's all there is when it comes for the advocacy of 2nd Amendment rights.

Well, he is famous for getting guns into the hands of people the Democrats did not want to have them. How is he not universally reviled in the US? It's ancient history. The people who were around in those days are too busy trying to pay their bills and keep their kids in college, The one's were were not around have no idea who he is or what the fuss was about. As for me, ooooh the government is corrupt and does things in violation of the constitution. There is a shocker. No one ever wants to seriously discuss stripping it of it's power so I guess everyone is OK with it. As for me, journalist H.L. Mencken said it best: The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.

OMG now THAT is funny!

Well, he is famous for getting guns into the hands of people the Democrats did not want to have them.

An inspirational message to start your day:

Get used to it kid. This s--t will be happening to you for the rest of your life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNNakT1pS5Q

That would fly like a lead zeppelin. The right to have it does not extend to the right to use it lime that. Although some have tried claimed POW status following assassination attempts. That didn't work either. Besides, if the unthinkable SHTF situation ever does occur there are no courts or laws and due process is a bullet.

I can't believe I forgot this one. It's one of my all time favorite movies: No Country For Old Men. I don't know if the scene makes sense out of the context of the movie, but I thought it was outstanding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co5aKOGcHaw

Well, let's hope it never comes to that. Although that is one of the real purposes of the 2nd Amend.

You all know how much I despise the both the Democrats and the Republicans. The former a bit more than the latter true. This is one example of why: they are not about anything other than exploiting talking points to get into power. To wit https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Republican-candidates-run-against-a-capital-run-12890987.php. Republican primary candidates running against incumbents promising to "drain the swamp". Of course the swamp is now completely controlled by Republicans and is as swampy as ever. Somehow people seem to miss that one. It's a problem when you are not "about" anything but getting into power. The republicans tell you illegal immigrants are your enemy. The democrats tell you people who have more money than you are your enemy. Of course without mentioning 31 of the 50 wealthiest congress members, multi-millionaires all, are democrats. Not bad for career public servants whose salaries have never exceeded $223,500 per year, the current top pay for a senior congressional rep/senator. Like I said earlier, when you've got nothing else you go with what you know. The sad thing is, the real enemy is the institution itself. We can't live without it, true enough. But we can't live with it in it's current state either. But no one seems interested in pulling it's fangs so I guess we go one like this until... something.

I've gotten out of the habit of exercising every day. So I'm making myself get up and take a walk every morning. So this morning Sunny and I walked down to the junction of Cold Creek and the Hatchee River (3 miles, 5k round trip give or take). While there I saw a half dozen ducks in the slack water on the north side of the junction. I whipped out my phone a snapped a few pics. It was a perfect moment. Until you-know-who saw them and charged barking into the creek. Well, that was the end of that. That dog is incorrigible. I've been trying to train her for years now. And there is a lot of things she knows and can do. But she has exactly 0 impulse control. She is very lovable though.

I killed off the last of the Tin Cup by drowning it in Ginger Ale. I didn't really care for it but I can't bring myself to waste it. Then for the evening drinks I opened a new bottle of Four Roses small batch. I had two three finger low balls of that and concluded the "good stuff" is called "the good stuff" for a reason.

I'm on vacation for the next week. Staycation really because I intend not to leave my house for the next 10 days. All the work around here is caught up so I'm sitting on the porch today enjoying adult beverages and jamming music on my outdoor speakers. Now playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvmLRiXaAnM&feature=share

Wow I hope not. I figured that series will be paying her royalties the rest of her life. They have sold the film rights at least twice now.

I want my PC to look like they belong in the setting. Otherwise I disconnect form the story and go play Stellaris or something. I play both female and male PCs and usually make the PC around a concept or idea of who they are and where they came from. But things like the skimpy bikini armor mods in Skyrim for example is a non-starter with me. It looks cold in Skyrim, no one is wearing that. Like Tarjaxx said, if they PC looks out of place it just kills it for me.

Wow, I can't believe I just spent 30 minutes reading board posts about posts on other boards about how a guy who left a SW development company didn't like his old job. The game development "industry" is certainly an odd duck that such a thing even IS a thing.