winsor

When playing Army I was given a Holy Comic Book which made it clear that, regardless of one's transgressions in this life, if one repented in their last breath all was forgiven and they went straight to Heaven™. Pretty good benefit plan; I'll check the interwebz to verify this wonderful thing. I'm sure the candidate is banking on this.

130 meters is point blank (which means correcting elevation for distance is unnecessary). Anyone who earned Rifle Shooting Merit Badge can hit a tennis ball at that distance all day without trying. For better or worse - depending on who you ask - this guy was an abysmal shot.

I think I'm going to write in Phineas T. Barnum.

Some cohorts are a standard deviation above the mean, others a standard deviation below. All that aside, the level of mediocrity that is put forth by either side is astounding.

Excellent video. I wish the opposition could offer something better than a woke nitwit as an alternative.

I've worked with people with advanced degrees whose abysmal grasp of the fundamentals was downright stunning. She's a moron.

The implication is unearned privilege. While Vance appears to be moderately bright, Kamala is a moron and represents the downside of affirmative action. I've known enough people who got where they were to fill quotas that I empathize with those who had to demonstrate conclusively that they met any applicable standards. I'm all for providing equal opportunity to anyone with the ability and drive to take on a particular role, be it PIC, MD, CEO or whatever. I staunchly oppose quotas that supercede merit.

About the only option that gives a viable path to the oval office for the Dems is Hillary Clinton. There are enough people who feel she won when she last run that she has some built-in momentum. There are more competent people than her, but nobody who can get over the finish line in two months. Our options are thus corrupt, incompetent or evil. I hope we choose wisely.

I thought pornography was defined as anything that gives the judge an erection.

Just going by what the "experts" say in the clear. Doesn't require interpretation

Videos are better than most posters provide - at least the posters I haven't killfiled. Come to think of it, those in my killfile were given more to abuse than scholarly support for their positions. You are wrong about nobody viewing the videos. You don't want to watch them? Xin loi, nobody says you have to. As far as CRT goes, the original sources reveal it to be the worst sort of divisive identity politics with an overlay of Marxism, bound together with hand waving. Like KKK ideology, regardless of the merits of any of its claims it is fundamentally racist drivel, and both are beneath contempt for the same reasons. If you're cool with either, that is your call. Having said that, speaking in defense of CRT or the KKK will elicit a similar response. BSBD, Winsor

I hate automatics, but when a car was free I took it and said 'thanks!' My brother in law has a Tesla and it suits his transportation profile well. It would work badly with mine.

You make light of BONE SPURS? You should be ashamed.

My guess is that Hanlon's Razor is at play. Too much of this scenario is FUBAR to be even the most incompetent of conspiracies. The shooter was a 20 YO kid known for being a laughably bad shot. He didn't wear International Orange, but perhaps that was an oversight. As it was he was clearly visible to various and sundry observers - to include LEOs and Secret Service sharpshooters. The Gov't marksmen were watching him through their rifle scopes for quite some time before he began shooting and, without having to look around, touched off the round that ended the shooting. Their indecision was amazing - amateur hour at its finest. Plenty of conspiracy theories have been bandied about already (hey, it's what we do), but the Occam's Razor version is more that the Fuck Up Fairy visited us, or that the holes in the Swiss cheese lined up - pick your metaphor. If the target had peed himself and become hysterical when nicked, that would be one thing. Instead, he turned it into a world class photo op. It's hard to discredit someone who has been in the public eye and 100% consistent for over 40 years. Bloom County managed to lampoon him back then, but it took a brain transplant with Bill the Cat to do so. Portraying him as more absurd than is his norm was, an is, rather a challenge. In any event, the shooter missed an impossibly easy shot, one that he was able to take by virtue of SS hesitation, and bettered the odds of reelection rather than cancelling his ticket. What the hell, I'm sure much will change before the election - in politics, 4 months is a lifetime. BSBD, Winsor

All things being equal, his lack of expertise resulted in innocents being wounded and killed and his target receiving political benefit. Nice work there.

Well, he died trying.

I'm not sure to what you're responding, likely someone in my killfile, but "point blank" is an artillery term referring to any range that does not require elevation to hit. The reference is to a white mark on a Gunner's quadrant - 'pointe blanc' in French, denoting a dead level barrel. I don't feel like digging out ballistics tables, but as I recall at 130 meters the amount of drop experienced by your basic 5.56x45 mm 55 grain BTSP is little enough that one can use the crosshairs as zeroed. For a competent marksman, this is pretty much point blank range. The incident in Butler County was thus on a par with the shootout scene in "Pulp Fiction." BSBD, Winsor

Many moons ago two Philly cops were lured into an alley where two youngsters then blasted away with their 9mm bullet dispensers. Some 92 empties were collected. Nobody got hit. A couple of buddies on the force opined that the availability of Uzis, TEC-9s and the like was a bad thing. When I asked whether they'd rather go up against one of them with 32 rounds or me with a single shot T/C Contender, the response was "you - you're on our side." Good point. At any rate, the shooter was an abysmal marksman - to the detriment of the people who got hit by his incompetence. This is a rare case where that which didn't kill him only made him (politically) stronger. The law of unintended consequences rears its ugly head again, and the shooter committed suicide in the process of ensuring the outcome of the election. The reality is that, when all is said and done, our only choice is from which wellspring of mediocrity we may select our candidate. If a people get the government they deserve, it appears we suck out loud. BSBD, Winsor

Inshallah.

When we were busy bringing Truth, Justice and the American Way™ to Iraq and Afghanistan, a few of us ran the numbers and concluded that a well organized operation could put in place a hub and spoke high-speed rail system connecting all major metropolitan areas in the US of A for less Upon reflection, when I consider the peace, prosperity and admiration that was achieved by our military operations, I have to conclude that it was a better investment in the future to free the oppressed people in those countries.

It's been done. IIRC, 550 watts/square meter from unobstructed sunlight is reasonable, so even with 100% efficiency there is precious little with which to work. One of the problems we face is more from our expectations than from the physics involved. The U.S. in it's heyday was a network of railhead communities, and a domicile within range of rail transport was critical. Now we have urban sprawl that is ill served by rail transport, and we are convinced that it is our birthright to have a POV in the driveway. A (well run) rail network based on modern Diesel-electric traction is more efficient than everyone having POVs of any description. So long as we cling tenaciously to an unworkable model, it matters little how we finesse it. I suspect that we are past the tipping point. Don Henley's line that we've been "poisoned by these fairy tails" is spot on. It was fun while it lasted. BSBD, Winsor

As far as you can tell, I'm sure.

All a matter of which poison is preferable.

For all the hoopla regarding this decision, it is but a tempest in a teacup. If anything, it states that some actions are arguable and others lack immunity, where whatsisname claimed absolute immunity. In practice, presidents have routinely done things that are patently illegal as part of their official duties and gotten a pass. Obama carrying out a hit against an American working for Daesh was entirely illegal, and nobody batted an eye (including me). Clinton was taken to task for playing hide-the-salami with Lewinski et al and lying about it, and survived impeachment. As an aside, I think it would have been amusing if he got his wish to have the case handled by the UCMJ as CIC; commanders committing adultery are routinely cashiered (seems to have happened in the last week, IIRC). When all is said and done, our only hope is that Biden steps aside, thanks Harris for her service, and is replaced by someone who is truly competent. Not bloody likely, but one can dream. BSBD, Winsor

I'd vote for Liz Cheney. She sees the big picture and she has a spine.