Agiel

Idle thought, but I have to imagine whenever Trump shoots his mouth off over a hot war with North Korea Mattis has to show him a graph titled "Projected DJIA Losses" that simply shows a giant cliff.

You were not alone. Back when Trump was still President-elect and some hoped that he would grow into the office and it was not entirely clear just how much of a disaster his administration would be (or at least to those who haven't been paying attention for the 30 odd years Trump has been a public figure) even national defence-minded folks were sounding alarm bells over generals in the cabinet. I suppose one should be grateful that Trump could not have bothered to have watched any of McMaster or Mattis' panels, as he seems to be under the impression that to a man US generals are MacArthur when in fact those two in particular are more Marshall and, dare I say it, even have shades of Smedley Butler.

if you wanna dig through some o' the old police violence threads on this board you will be able to find a few discussions 'bout the correlation 'tween various police qualities and excessive force complaints and convictions. am knowing a few boardies who is dismissive o' the value o' education, but the most significant police attribute resulting in decrease in violence claims and convictions is the level o' education o' the officer. yes, is correlative, so perhaps education level is not the reason for the decrease in abuse o' force 'mongst cops, but am thinking it doesn't much matter if one is simple looking for a way to avoid such problems. hire cops with at least college degree, and a large % of such events don't happen. 'course the resulting difficulty is almost nobody can afford to hire a force o' all college educated cops. the pay for typical municipal cop with only high school education requirements is already excellent. nevertheless, major cities still have trouble fulfilling hiring needs even with an extreme large pool from which to draw. increase education requirement and you need increase pay as well, no? there is a solution to the problem. sure, have only cops with university degree won't complete stop abuse o' law enforcement power, but it will great reduce. unfortunate, as with so many problems, money is a practical barrier to adopting the obvious solution. HA! Good Fun! Given the number of vets who decide to go into law enforcement after their enlistment is over, would probably convince more to take advantage of their GI Bill.

The company's previous fare is creepy, but also stunningly beautiful (for a 2008 indie game), as well as creepy and goddamn bonkers:

Were I Putin, I would keep the fact that Vladivostok used to be a part of what was called Outer Manchuria very much in mind.

Former Giant Bomb duder Drew Scanlon lost... in the Zone. "I said come in! Don't stand there!"

The Pathologic remake is now Pathologic 2.

Should they have less say? It's obviously a very tricky situation. Right now there is a decent argument for everyone being unhappy, which probably means something is being done right. You said California isn't marginalized and then justified why it should be marginalized. That's all I'm saying, let's be realistic about what the electoral college does to populated states. I don't think it is that big of a deal, I could always move to Wyoming if it really bothered me. Also I'd argue with California being some liberal wonderland. The reality is it can be quite conservative. CA booted Gray Davis out of office and put in a Republican and it voted to pass Prop 8. I'd argue the problem lies in a weak Republican leadership structure. This the state that produced Reagan, afterall, and he is probably the most popular Republican in recent history. There also seems to be a mistaken perception that the state's universities are universally dens of far left iniquity. For what it's worth most people in the other Calstates and UCs (LA, SB, SD, etc.) think people who go to UC Berkeley and moreso Santa Cruz are lefty loons too.

Muahahaha, we pass gas in the general direction of NK's puny missiles: US Missiles Destroy Airborne Target in Successful Defense Test. Don't they ever plan a 'random surprise attack within a certain period'? Because that's a heck of a lot closer to what a real situation would be rather than knowing down to the exact second something is going to be launched. Not to mention more impressive. Though I guess it'd be problematic to do so given that it takes a long time to plan and prepare for a test like that. During Aegis BMD exercises the training ship is brought to alert status for an extended period of time, but is not told precisely when the launch of the target will occur: https://youtu.be/_pr9WY2Xyj0?t=59s In any case an IRBM attack on Japan or Guam isn't what the worry is, but tube and rocket artillery attacks on Seoul. I'm sure Mattis' more tempered tone is owed to the fact that unlike Trump he's 100% cognizant to the fact that a misstep could lead to an economic depression the likes we haven't seen since the Great Depression from the destruction of Seoul that will change the course of human history for many years to come, even if no American lives save for those living in or stationed in Korea will be directly affected.

Its greatest resource is also well-taken care of when it comes to higher education. Best in class for film studies, sciences and high technology (everyone knows MIT is a punk b**** compared to Caltech, there, I said it), art, and public research schools.

Most economically productive state in the union, has some of the best public _and_ private higher education institutions, home to the busiest cargo ports in the states and the highest traffic airliner hub, hosts the principle naval base for USPACFLT, why on Earth shouldn't California matter a _whole_ lot?

An auspicious start to my day. While waiting for my Uber to a steakhouse for lunch a Douglas C-47 in full Second World War livery flew directly over my head (sans paratroopers making static line drops). Probably on its way back from a heritage flight commemorating the centennial of the foundation of the 82nd.

Appreciate the thought, but checklists and fifteen-minute cold starts are more my speed. But hey, there's a time and place for just the thrill of doing 500kts and 9Gs for most folks.

has been linked before by Gromnir and others, but the writer of trump's book, the art of the deal​, has shared his insights into the workings o' trump's mind. is an intriguing read... not the art of the deal, but rather the interview with tony schwartz. “It’s implicit in a lot of what people write, but it’s never explicit—or, at least, I haven’t seen it. And that is that it’s impossible to keep him focussed on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandizement, for more than a few minutes, and even then . . . ” Schwartz trailed off, shaking his head in amazement. keep in mind the interview is from the summer o' 2016, before the election. warnings. warnings not heeded. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all HA! Good Fun! Mark Bowden similarly noted in his own interview of Trump for Playboy that Trump's interview fatigue made it somewhat difficult for him to get much material for the piece. Along with Schwartz's observations it was why I found Trump's nickname "Low Energy Jeb" as much him calling the kettle black as his "Lying Ted".

Still, I'm inclined to believe anyone who's applying for a job at Valve on the software side (and I'm not implying that its hardware division is very successful at all) is doing so out of a love for Half-Life (or perhaps we're getting into a generation where that's more true for Portal) rather than a desire to expand on Steam or work on Dota 2: https://youtu.be/JRa6Bswl6vA?t=4m39s

It'd be something if the TIE Defender and the Missile Gunboat made it into the game.

Watched the latest episode of Preacher, and I'm going to say something that is going to sound real funny out of context: Given my fear that some of the more, shall we say, controversial story arcs from the comic would not make it onto a TV series on basic cable, never have I been more giddy seeing a grown man relieve himself on another. Mr Rogen, as someone for whom the Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon comic series was a formative experience I doff my hat to you. For all the changes and differences between the original comic and the TV series if there were any doubt that you 100% _got_ Preacher then they have been dispelled.

This is the Strait of Malacca we're talking about. The waterway in which the third largest economy in the world has its energy needs shipped through and how its connected to the world's second biggest economy.

I know your stance on Seinfeld, but I can't help but note that like George Costanza the Donald is probably the type that stares at Denise Richards' cleavage for too long as well. “Looking at the sun is like looking at cleavage! You don’t stare at it, it’s too risky! You get a sense of it then you look away!”

Call it cold, calculating mathematical logic, but I really only see this as a continuation of attacks on civil society conducted by aimless losers that date back for at least two centuries (within living memory in Europe includes the Red Brigade of Italy kidnapping and executing a Prime Minister, the Baader-Meinhof Gang robbing banks, taking airliners hostage, and bombing airbases, and the IRA dropping time bombs into London dustbins).

I think much of the criticism was leveled towards the writing. I've long said that Ubisoft missed a golden opportunity given the subject matter to make something on the level of Spec Ops: The Line which people would be talking about for years later. It did come out in a time of Narcos and after another Tom Clancy novel and film based on the novel with similar themes: