Agiel

I think Trump's priority is somehow retaining the votes he won in 2016 for the election in 2020 (should he make it that far). Though I'm hesitant to use the tired phrase "if trends hold" since lots can happen in 42 months (see the introductory portion of David Frum's article in the Atlantic for the picture of "things that may be") it looks increasingly unlikely that those who didn't vote for him in 2016 will be swayed given his performance thus far short of Democrat primary voters dropping the ball for their nominee (I remain convinced that in spite of Sanders having some modicum of charisma and having a message that resonated with voters that he would have lost even harder to Trump).

Preacher may diverge from the comics in spots, but at the very least they got Herr Starr right: However I'll be tremendously disappointed if he doesn't get the scar on the top of his dome at some point.

Coming out apparently "any day now."

Some time ago a buddy of mine once opined that Ubisoft should have looked to the Revenant for inspiration for their next effort in the series if the modern setting was no limitation in light of Primal. I suppose now that we have a better idea of what the game is Ubisoft met him half-way on the concept, and they may yet do a spin-off that takes place back in time.

Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden dead after getting hit by car while training on bicycle. http://www.bbc.com/sport/motorsport/39972058

Arkane should re-score the game with late 70's/80's style synths and then I'd totally be on-board for the $60 price of admission.

Saw Alien: Covenant on opening night and I think I've given it enough time to stew. For me it vacillated between a 6 and a 7 out of 10, but ultimately I give it a 7. I didn't come into it with nearly as much hope I had for Prometheus back in the day, so that helped. Fassbender definitely kills it as both David and Walter in this movie, and as Walter he makes an outstanding not-Bishop... However as someone who had dug deep into the lore for the franchise (so far as to have a copy of the Colonial Marines Technical Manual when I was a kid) a few things gnawed at me... That finishes my thoughts on Covenant. This weekend I also saw <<Blame!>> on Netflix, which is a fairly solid adaptation of the original comic. Very rarely do I see any anime that has come out since the middle part of the last decade since they tended to veer too much towards overly sappy and sentimental for my tastes, but this one is overall pure post-apocalyptic cyberpunk joy. Think the Dark Tower meets Akira and you have a reasonable idea of its themes and tone.

I myself was partial to Jim Webb, whom unlike Trump was physically brave, having served with valour in the Marines in Vietnam, and _actually_ gets the plight of rural America, not to mention that decent and competent foreign policy and military thinkers like Mattis and McMaster would have taken a shine to his outlook on foreign and defence-related affairs. I honestly think were it him on the Democratic ticket against Trump we could have seen a 538 electoral sweep.

Will be seeing it after work tonight. From what I've been told that though the consensus is that it's better than Prometheus (and a damned sight better than 3 and Ressurrection, which is frankly good enough for me as a huge fan of the series) it falls into the same trap as Prometheus in that the plot turns on supposedly intelligent people making the absolute worst decisions possible.

In memory of Chris Cornell:

I take it they're drawing from the rulebooks for the companions like Amiri and Lem?

no doubt one o' the reasons the trump campaign switched from ronald reagan to andrew jackson as the role model for trump is 'cause trump voters is suspicious o' russia. cold war soviet distrust is not forgotten particular 'mongst the alt-right crowd. possible first thing one thinks o' when invoking reagan is the cold war conflict. trump's russian entanglements is arguable where he is most vulnerable with his core voters. The thing to me was that Trump's economic plan while on the campaign trail seemed not too far removed from the Soviet-style command economy at its most corrosive and unsustainable: Rampant protectionism? Check. Make-work public works projects building bridges to nowhere (metaphorically and literally)? Check. Artificially propping up failed, inefficient, and obsolescent industries? Check, check, and check. As Richard Aboulafia noted: "Trump may be a Republican, but he may govern less like Ronald Reagan and more like Juan Perón."

You're missing the point of how things have been done in the UN. It is generally only in very extraordinary circumstances in which concrete action is effected through a resolution, but they are almost overwhelmingly more often than not vetoed by at least one member. If there was an intent to only bring forth resolutions member countries were sure to get through, then the entire world community would have given up on drawing up resolutions condemning Israel a long time ago. Point of them being that it builds an international consensus. That in mind China's abstention is a change from their previous policy of consistently vetoing measures taking a harder stance on Syria. Yes, they knew Russia would abstain, but China had an opportunity to look good for the international community. The abstain option provided the best compromise of getting diplomatic brownie points and not burning bridges with Russia. That the sole member that joined Russia in a hard veto is Bolivia, a country that is unlikely to have a particularly well-developed Middle-East or Europe-centric intelligence apparatus or much of any economic or strategic skin in the game and uses its vote solely for thumbing their noses at the "yanqui" should speak volumes of where the political winds are blowing.

Also of note that the China, who has until now consistently vetoed resolutions taking a harsher stance against the Assad regime (which is generally couched in a "all change is bad change" outlook), have pointedly decided to abstain from the vote condemning the Syrian government, which seems to suggest that either their own intelligence assessments based on verifiable data and/or the character of Assad's indiscriminate terror bombing campaigns seems to largely corroborate the consensus of the rest of the international community. Translation: "We accept the conclusions of the rest of the international community, but we do not want to jeopardise energy and technology transfer deals with Russia... yet." Point we've been trying to make is that even if one were to make the most militantly "Switzerland" approach to international affairs then it would probably be unwise to assume the most positive pro-Assad narrative as reflexively as the most anti-occidental one.

Picture was taken in the UK:

Michael Mann and Heat in retrospect.

David Frum remarked that in spite of his grave misgivings over the Trump administration he was leery of comparisons to Hitler since the American people have plenty of stops to get off on that train to outright totalitarian fascism. However a friend of mine opined: "The interesting thing will be seeing every poisonous ****wit in existence slinking towards the post if McMasters gets fired. I can't see a replacement fairing much better unless they're a total Goering."

Lest we forget:

It's being directed by Villeneuve, so a fresh take on it might just be what it needs to inspire audiences again. Also thus far people have responded fairly positively to Covenant, but then again the bar for tolerable for that franchise is somewhere above Alien^3, Ressurrection, Prometheus, and AvP2.

That's an interesting way to look at it. Is that like the idea that people without religion are immoral? no its like idea that people without religion push secular ideas. Don't understand where you get religion = morality It's a pretty popular idea, I am certainly not saying I agree with it. Of course the idea that you need to have children in order to respect the future also seems a bit off to me. Given that we live on the cusp of what may be the most dramatic technological disruption of the workforce (i.e. automation), perhaps that Voluntary Human Extinction Movement was onto something.

F-35s on the Mach Loop:

Looks to be a solid spiritual successor to SWAT 4: