I WENT WALKING

On Friday afternoon I walked around the neighborhood to see how summer was getting on. It looks pretty good so far. It's a nice place to live and go for a walk.

The second bridge I crossed on my walk

Doan Brook

The missing herons found at last on the lower lake

Looking toward the dam

Walking along the lake towards the dam

The narrow bridge below the dam

Reentry to the 20th Century

GROUND TRUTH IN RAMADI

Austin Bay provides a little more clarity on what really happened when ISIS overran Ramadi and forced the Iraqi army to retreat. It makes what happened there understandable in the kind of human terms we can all appreciate.

Credit the senior official for setting straight Ramadi's history. Iraqi defenders didn't just bug out. ISIL struck Ramadi in January 2014, six months prior to attacking Mosul. When ISIL's blitz failed, Ramadi became a battle of attrition. For 18 months, ISIL fighters controlled "half the city." Attrition is a euphemism for killed and wounded. Iraqi forces suffered "thousands of casualties" in Ramadi. The briefer mentioned no specifics, but in March and April 2015, Iraq's Ramadi forces beat back repeated ISIL attacks. 

Then the briefer turned to ISIL's assault of May 14: "Over the course of 96 hours in Ramadi, and what we've been able to collect ... (ISIL used) about 30 suicide VBIDs in Ramadi and the environs. ... Ten of them, I've been told, had the explosive capacity of an Oklahoma City type attack. So just to put that in perspective." 

OK, so far. Then this follows: "If you look at the pictures that ISIL has put out of the explosions -- I mean, I have some of them -- it's just they took out entire city blocks."

I don't think American airpower is the answer because that's how we get sucked into pointless and futile wars of attrition. If they mean to cripple ISIS they need to start treating them the way we treated Germany and Japan. Cut off the fuel supply to ISIS controlled territory.

 

WILL THE IOC BE NEXT?

I see that the U.S. Justice Department indicted most of the FIFA ruling class for racketeering, extortion and unsportsmanlike conduct and had a lot of them arrested in Switzerland today. I can only wonder how long before they go after the International Olympic Committee for exactly the same crimes committed over the decades since the modern Olympics returned after World War II.

When you look at sports in this country it is pretty clear that just about every aspect of sports governance is contrary to the laws of this country. Everything from getting the citizens of a given locality to pony up the money to build sports stadiums they cannot use themselves to the rules governing the free agency of players to play for any team that will have them seems to violate the rights of the citizen.

How exactly did San Diegans end up on the hook for selling ALL the seats to Charger home games? How is it that if seats went unsold to the public, San Diego local government was compelled to buy those seats? Why, even when that happened were games blacked out on local TV if the stadium didn't sell out?

I don't have any problem with people supporting the local team and paying big bucks to park there, bigger bucks for tickets to the game and big bucks for the pathetic food and drink offerings available from the concessionaires that 'bought' the right to compel you to buy whatever they sell you at whatever markup they think they can get away with but I don't think I should have to pay to support the local team because somehow my local government put me on the hook to build some billionaire or consortium of billionaires a "free" stadium which also lets them pocket ALL of the money.

So yes Justice Department, when are you going to go after the NFL and Major League Baseball and the NBA? And what is you plan of action with regard to NCAA ball which gets away with exploiting talent without any pay whatsoever?

On the other hand, Justice appears uninterested in the pay for play access that Congressmen now demand as the price for listening to a constituent or interested party who wants legislative relief or action because we all know that the "donations" to the campaign are nothing more nor less than bribes.

MYTH VOODOO AND LEGEND

It's entertaining to watch the complete destruction of a myth.

One wonders how we would have fared in Iraq if L. Paul Bremer had been squished like a bug on his first day in Iraq.

DEMOCRATS FORCE TRAGEDIES TO REPEAT THEMSELVES

There is an interesting article and comments here. It has to do with the fall of Saigon and the expected fall of Baghdad to islamic sunni terrorists and we an expect to see what happened in 1975 repeat itself in Baghdad in the coming months. There is little doubt that the city and our embassy will be overrun and destroyed.

Isn't it funny the effect our muslim president has had on the muslims in the middle east? He destroyed the central authority of Libya, tore down our ally in Egypt and saw him replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood which in turn was turfed out by an Army coup. Turkey has slipped out of secularism and is rapidly becoming more and more like Persia. Our Saudi allies have withdrawn all support from our regime and Afghanistan is reverting overnight to full taliban control. Let's gloss over what we did with Syria and Assad at the behest of the light worker and Mrs. Clinton.

Sometimes it is hard to remember that when George Bush left office, the middle east was completely under control with governments that we could rely upon to exert control and maintain their sovereignty. Obama and Clinton turned all of that to ashes in under 4 years. We used to maintain that the United States was sufficiently steeped in our way of life that we could survive 4 years of even the worst president but we never went on to consider if the rest of the world could survive such an evil and despicable presidency. As the sun sets on Greece and the EU, it's worth wondering if anything will be left of the northern hemisphere by the time the Democrats leave the White House, assuming that Americans aren't stupid enough to vote for Clinton or any other hideous loser democrat.

It's hard for me to believe that Obama declared our primary national challenge is global warming.  He's still intent on wrecking the world's economy, energy supplies and future.

IT STARTED A LONG TIME AGO

I hope that all of you enjoyed Memorial Day as we did. It was a quiet day with some reflection and was also the Block Party on our street here in MetroParkCentralis. I'm afraid we left when the guitars started coming out of the houses and started wandering over to the low buzz and drone of neighbors, friends and relatives catching up on the doings of our street and cooing over the newest arrivals who were remarkably quiet and well behaved.

I left it too late to run up my new flag and found that I lacked the hardware required to fly it at all today. The picture below was taken at Fort McHenry. It is kind of shocking to realize that more people were killed and wounded this weekend in Baltimore by gunfire than were killed and wounded during the Royal Navy's bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814.

A salute to all who have fought and died for this country. Some people don't need to set aside a day to remember. They remember the fallen every single day of the year.

BAN HOODIES

I'm looking at the DC search for a suspect in a quadruple homicide in an upscale neighborhood. The surveillance video reveals the killer walking away and naturally he is wearing a hoodie. Liberals are always keen to address crime by banning guns and knives and swords and yet never think that perhaps ending the faceless anonymity of the criminals might contribute more to finding and punishing criminals than any type of restriction of the 2nd Amendment.

One might wonder how to enact such a ban. Easy, do what Bloomberg did in New York City and pass and ordnance banning the sale or wear of hoodies. Those guys have criminalized just about everything so one more minor bagatelle is nothing.

GUN CONTROL

Gun control is policing the battleground when you're done shooting them.

MOWER SAGA

It was a different time and era but today I talked to my neighbor and asked to borrow her mower. After all, I bought it. It was under my name and yet now that I think about it, why didn't I buy a riding mower? Sure, it would be overkill for the tiny yards my sister and I have in common but a RIDING MOWER...!

Zut alors!

I would, naturally, have named it Grendel.

SOMETIMES ELLIPTICAL

Elliptical properly describes the last post. Remember who I write for. It will remain long after I'm gone because nothing on the web is ever truly deleted. She'll figure it out.

This struck me today about Cruz from Ruben Navarette of all things: 

"I will also stick to English, Señor Halperin. You crossed the line. This was bad journalism, bad form, and bad manners." 

That was written by somebody I used to read once a week in Cardiff-By-The-Sea at the Donut Park while Josie was playing. I picked up the Beach Press next to VG's on Saturday and read it cover to cover while she played in the park. He had a weekly column in the beach press and he was always about 5 billion miles away from reality. Naturally, it took punching his race button to get him to within a lightyear of reality.

I am still getting an enormous kick out of the talent being fielded for the rethuglican nomination in contrast to the communist and the socialist being offered up by the democrats.

DELUSION

Thys ancien Dell used to lyve under a delusyian that it was was fast and to be honest, compared to the towers that come before, it was. It still works fine which is why it remains my upstairs computer and it can still, when I want, play the games that newer computers sneer at. I''m pretty sure Sneerat used to be close by Soddom and Gomorah and I can spell those anyway. I want to being different from people who elect to think there is a right way to spell Arabic in English and Chinese in English as fools of the first and second water. OTOH, I read Thucydides in translation and thought it good enough.

How were they spelled in the language of Ur? The Song of Solomon and Gilgamesh?

It's a loose interpretation and I might have to read SNOWCRASH again.

Second Reading: Snowcrash.

SUNDAY BOOK RECOMMENDATION

Here is our Sunday book recommendation.

The Mote in God's Eye.

CLOUDS

Because,

we go to this place a lot. It is a dive but it is our kind of dive. It currently sports the name of the American Tavern, prior to that it was the Blue Star and, oddly enough, before that it was the American Tavern. The staff always remains and the peppercorn bacon cheeseburgers and steak quesadillas are awesome. One can dine and watch basketball or baseball or football. Yeah, it's one of those places that eschewed cable and decided to go with 27 satellite dishes on the roof.

There is a backside to it but we've never investigated. We are quite happy with the front side.

A CITIZEN OF NARNIA

Just sayin

I FORGOT

Picked this up from the King of France. I had forgotten her. She has a wonderful voice.

I remember coming home from the bars one night and we were telling Woody that she was in Africa with Jerry Brown. He loaded his shotgun at full choke and put two rounds through the poster he had of her on the wall in his room, very much to the surprise of the two guys sleeping in the newly ventilated room next door. As I recall, one of them used to go into the woods in Pennsylvania during the extremely limited bear hunting season for lunatics who hunt bears with .44 calibre magnum pistols.

It takes all kinds.

I REMEMBER

I don't remember the three posts I just nuked from orbit but I do recall debating the Mad Cow SWO on Lex's place one night and having the Padre ask Lex to nuke the entire thing from his blog. Lex obliged. I can do no less when asked.

My fingers are still nimble and my brain quite agile. I can always rewrite what I wrote before...if I could just remember it....

Have a very good weekend.

SOLILIQY

I woke up and went upstairs to my computer and then I seemed to take a step backward in time. As I listen to the little birds across the street, it seems more common than it used to be.

My mother asked me to pick up a book she had reserved at the local branch of the Arlington Library. As a dutiful son, I walked that half mile to pick up the 15 pound book and brought it home, sort of under my arm. I mean that book was seriously heavy.

I'm actually an historian. I think you would enjoy any of these links, particularly the Bulwer-Lytton one. We remember him for his 'dark and stormy night' but there was so much more.

Lord Haw Haw

A women so cruel she named her son Evelyn

A RICH DEMOCRAT MEDLEY

I laugh when I think about liberals and democrats. They confabulate and own the press but they miss out on one little thing as they snigger together.

There's almost 20 well accomplished people running for the office of President on the right and Hillary stands almost alone on the left. Last week she was joined in the race for democratic nominee by Bernie the communist. That's it from the left.

If I was a leftist progressive weasel, I'd wonder what happened to the likes of JFK. Did his brother drown all of them in a creek?

MY FRIEND MOHAMMED

In honor of the last attempt at an ISIS Type massacre here in the US. Aren't you tired of those guys?

I am forced to admit that my digital drawing skills are limited but it was enough once to share disdain for murdering scumbags. It's hard to believe that was five years ago back when I lived in San Diego and Lex was still flying for profit and fun. As I recall, I drew this about the time I took him and his wife to dinner in Del Mar.

OUTDOOR VOICE

I live directly across the street from an elementary school. It is background noise but every now and again I 'listen'. It's like listening to birds

REMEMBER RED CELL?

I find myself understanding patriotic Texans who are nervous of the service they are going to get from Jade Helm and SPECWAR. On the other hand, I was living there when Dick Marcinko and his Red Cell kidnapped citizens in their driveways as part of their 'war games'. I'm afraid I didn't play nice with those guys.

When I was moored at 32nd Street in San Diego we used to have wannabee SEALS try to infiltrate ships at the waterfront after dark. They'd come over from Coronado in their RHIBS and my guys used to light them up with a 24 inch carbon arc searchlight and track them practically all the way. We would always notify base security that there were 'intruders' in the water and ask if there was an 'exercise' underway and Base Security would always deny it and then call back 10 minutes later and ask us to stop tracking the zodiac with our search light.

When I was the fire control officer on the destroyer a couple years earlier, my SAT and BAF understood my plans if those guys ever set foot on our ship. Boot on the neck, gun to the head and don't let up until I come along to collect them and if they give you any trouble at all, ventilate them. We don't know they're not terrorists hell bent on getting our nukes now do we?

I CLOSED MY EYES

The rookie was aghast and demanded action immediately but the sergeant said no.

"You just saw him attack Rhines and kick the shit out of him~!"

"Yes, but Rhines assaulted the citizen first."

"What difference does that make? He just kicked Rhines in the balls for the 5th time!"

"Rhines went up against a citizen out walking at night in his own neighborhood and attacked him and the citizen employed  tactics that Rhines is unfamiliar with and overwhelmed him and beat the shit out of him and why? Ask yourself, why is Rhines lying there by the lake, pantless after a man pulled them off and thru them into the lake along with his official weapon, his backup weapon, his badge and his ID wallet?"

"Who the fuck cares why he did it, that was assault on a police officer!"

"Son, I don't see a man with a badge lying on the ground anywhere around here do you?"

BULLET HOLES

I think it is interesting that the terrorist pickup truck had fewer bullet holes in it than the wrong pick-up trucks blown apart by nervous sheriffs when they shot any pickup truck they thought must carry Dorner. It looks like whatever lawbeing opened fire just used two round to put down the islamic wannabees.

My very best regards to that law being. That was some good shooting. I'd be honored to buy you a beer.

COLT, IF THEY FALL I WILL MISS THEM

This is a sad story but not one we haven't seen before be it guns or makers of fine brandy. I'm OK with it if they go under. I've got mine and as long as they make 45 calibre ammo, I'm happy. It's hard to believe the consortium that owns Colt failed to address reality.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Ever wonder just who manufactures all that ammo for all those AK-47s in the world and sells it to terrorists ranging from Boko Haram to Sudan and Afghanistan and wonder why somebody doesn't send a cruise missile into the works?