02/29/20

Afghanistan — Peace? Not A Chance In Hell

You may have noticed that the United States signed a “treaty” with the Taliban pertinent to Afghanistan that will lead to the end of hostilities between the US and the Taliban.

The Taliban negotiating team including one man who was a Gitmo detainee who we released. These guys outsmarted our generals and out waited our Presidents.

The US has been at war with the the Taliban for 18 years making this the longest war in US history.

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02/29/20

Net Neutrality — Did It Wreck The Internet?

I woke from a dead sleep this morning at approximately 2:27 AM. I sat bolt upright and thought, “WTF happened when the FCC (Federal Communications Commission — I often clarify abbreviations when awoken suddenly) eliminated the net neutrality rules?”

Wasn’t the world supposed to end? What happened? It’s been two years already.

You will recall that the FCC in the person of its Chairman Ajit Pai (former general counsel for Verizon) drove this effort forward.

The Internet cognoscenti warned us that terrible, truly horrific things would happen:

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02/28/20

Subscription Coffee — Panera Bread Strikes First

I am not a Panera Bread regular though I have spent a few hours there working, eating, and guzzling coffee. Not a lot, just a few.

Recently, Panera announced a subscription coffee service: Panera + Coffee.

For $8.99/month you can get unlimited coffee and tea (actually one hot drip coffee, hot tea, or iced coffee every TWO HOURS).

A 16 oz coffee is $2.39 on a regular menu basis.

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02/28/20

Cut The Crap — Corona Virus

Every so often, it is useful to cut the crap and make damn sure we all know the FACTS about a situation. Today, we cut the crap pertaining to the Corona Virus. [I refuse to call it COVID-19 as it gives dignity to this shitty little bit of Chinese crap.]

Here’s what we know.

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02/27/20

1942 — The Year That Tested the United States

It is good for us Americans to remember who we are when we face difficult challenges — for the record, the entire Corona Virus thing is a huge head fake and will turn out just fine, but we are unable to be calm these days, so it may be useful to revisit exactly who we are.

In 1942, we were reeling from the Japs destroying the American fleet at Pearl Harbor — 2,403 Americans KIA, 1,143 WIA, 18 ships sunk, 5 battleships sunk. We were now at war with Japan and Germany and our Army had been 189,000 men in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland. By the end of 1939, the Germans would have 6,000,000 men under arms.

By the end of World War II, the US military would number more than 12,000,000 (more than 17,000,000 would serve), but it would take three and a half years to get there.

We would suffer 407,000 KIA and 671,000 WIA plus another 6,000 Merchant Marine KIAs. We would accept the unconditional surrender of every one of the Axis countries — Germany and Japan chief amongst them.

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02/17/20

Regional Stupidity Award — New York

The United States is a large country with distinct regions defined by geography — coastal, mountains, plains, lakes (talking to you, Great Lakes), regional dialect, the nature of their favored BBQ and their sauce (beef, pork, chicken, tomato, mustard, vinegar with or without slaw), and, apparently their basic intelligence.

Let me propose for the example of an inferior native intelligence the entire State of New York, but with a special shout out to the capital in Albany.

The NY Legislature — as corrupt a legislature as there is in the United States though Illinois seems to be the front runner — in their infinite wisdom decided to do away with bail for entire classes of criminals. These are criminals for whom a “get out on bail” card most recently would have been a very tough sell.

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02/15/20

Rejected, Dejected

As my faithful readers are aware, I applied for a job with Queen Elizabeth on 25 January 2020. I showed y’all a copy of the application follow up letter here:

New Job Application

So, I’ve received an answer. I was very excited.

7 February 2020

Mr. Car, Big Red, Esq.

Dear Mr. Car, 

The Queen has asked me to reply to your lovely letter of 25 January. She told me to specifically mention how touched she was with your sincere and heartfelt interest in serving in Her household.

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