Virginia 35 William and Mary 29

As we left the stadium as the sun went down last evening, Brother Tom--who had graced Rob and me with his insightful football analysis all afternoon, had a truly inspiring moment of insight.  "Neither fan base is happy".  And he was right.

William and Mary fans had a right to be pissed...they outplayed us, but had a few big play breakdowns that sealed their fate.  But they played better.

Virginia?  Defense was a sieve.  Offense couldn't move the ball for the final 1/3 of the game.  Penalties, penalties, penalties.  No time outs left with 5:30 left in the game.  Special teams miscues.  Coaching. Coaching. Coaching.

Mike London simply isn't a big time coach.  He doesn't seem to be able to stay focused and manage the game for its entirety.  Flashes here and there, but he can't maintain.  It's time to go.

Annals of death: The stuff we care about, and don't

In the last 20 hours or so I heard two bits of curious thinking from, well, liberals, in quotidian refinement of the endless Narrative to which we are all subject in these parlous times.

Last night your blogger and his fetching better half took in Steve Earle and the Dukes at Austin's classic Paramount Theater. The show was great and entertaining, apart from the usual left-wing political digression that one has to endure at so many artistic moments these days. Earle rambled on incoherently about the environment for a couple of minutes, and then talked about what an awesome thing it was that we banned DDT, in order that the large birds could rebuild their population. For some reason that defies easy explanation for somebody so learned as Earle, he skipped over the part about 198 million human cases of malaria every year, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of needless deaths, 90% of which occur in Africa. I bet he also thinks #blacklivesmatter, but not, giving weight to his expressed preferences, if they are African.

All of this would be much easier to take if it had not been limpid-pool clear for more than a decade that the ban on DDT -- as opposed to banning aerial spraying, which is an entirely different matter -- was responsible for millions of needless human deaths. But nooooo, Earle was delighted that there was a pair of nesting red-tailed hawks on a building near his Manhattan apartment and apparently wholly uninterested that more Africans die every year from malaria than the aggregate American deaths in all of World War II. And the ignorant but very satisfied Austin audience applauded.

This evening I enjoyed a short drive from the office to the Lady Bird Lake running trail, and got more than usually irritated at NPR. It seems that the feds have released new data on workplace deaths in the United States during 2014. NPR used the report to go after the oil and gas industry, which piled up occupational deaths at a rate roughly five times the baseline carnage of 3.3 per 100,000 workers. This was all very interesting, if only NPR had mentioned that in 2014 the oil and gas sector in the United States was at the peak of a multi-generational boom, and that deaths were no doubt going to collapse in 2015 along with the rig count. Whatever. Here are two facts that NPR did not report:

Women accounted for a mere 8% of the workplace fatalities. Since NPR would normally obsess about a 12:1 gender disparity in any data, one can only conclude that it deliberately ignored this elephantine factoid in the room because people might wonder if it accounted for some of the aggregate average disparity in pay between the genders.

As curiously, there were significant differences in fatality risk by "race," counting as the government does. Latinos died at a rate of 3.6 per 100,000, a tad higher than whites (3.4 per 100,000), but well ahead of African-Americans (3.0 per 100,000) and Asian-Americans (a desk-jobbish 1.7 per 100,000). In our social-justice world, how to you fail to call attention to those disparities? Oh. Wait. Because narrative.

The people who shape our culture wouldn't know intellectual honesty if it bit off their big toe and ate it with a nice Chianti.

Carly Fiorina, Planned Parenthood, and the Government Shutdown

For those with the stomach and the curiosity, I invite you to the 5:59 mark of the video above.  Then, read Vox.com's Sarah Kliff, who claims Mrs. Fiorina is wrong about what she described, saying "But the things Fiorina describes — the legs kicking, the intact "fully formed fetus," the heart beating, the remarks about having to "harvest its brain" — are pure fiction".

Now, I am not The Hammer.  I don't advocate a "burn it down and start all over" strategy because Republican leaders have been insufficiently aggressive and/or successful in attaining the things that they ran on.  But for crying out loud--if we do not stand for the protection of that BABY on the platter in that video--because that's what it was--ex utero, it is no longer a fetus--then we stand for nothing.

Does the government have to stay shut down forever?  No.  Might we actually in the end, fold and pass something that funds Planned Parenthood?  Maybe.  Is closing the government and making American lives inconvenient for a few weeks in order to bring the light of shame upon the practice of infanticide for profit worth the cost?  You goddamn bet you .

UPDATE:  A handy discussion of the serve and volley on this subject at The Federalist.

Communists, Muslims and Communist-Muslims

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•It never fails, one is what one is be they an individual or a political party. The British Labour Party's brief foray into moderation is over and they have come home to their roots with new leader Jeremy Corbyn. Just as Bill Clinton was an anomaly, a political outlier, Tony Blair's "New Labour" has gone the way of Boehner and McConnell's backbone...never to be heard from again. Today Blair is reviled within Labour as much as Jimmy Carter or Richard Nixon were by their parties years ago (or Boehner and McConnell now). It's in the DNA, you are what you are. Welcome home comrade.

•Reportedly our beloved President is taking 10K Muslim refugees "from Syria" almost immediately, the overwhelming majority military age males. 300-350K are in the pipeline. Well gosh, where are the Christians? They are the ones being persecuted by all sides in the Islamic world are they not? How about women and children? Wouldn't they get first priority? Is this a humanitarian effort or a means to inject a few more Boston bombers into the US?

•At this point in the game is there any doubt that to the extent Baraq Obama has a religion, that religion is Islam? I'm not making an accusation nor am I speculating. I am making a judgement based on the evidence, and the evidence is clear. Radical Islam is stronger, more influential, more wealthy and much more dangerous under the "leadership" of our President than anyone could have possibly predicted. It's really quite astounding if you think about it. Militarily we are weaker than we've ever been in my lifetime, the Russians are setting up shop in Syria and we're allowing Iran a nuclear program. The frog is now boiling.



 

The West and the rest

Anybody who has ever dealt with investment bankers knows that "league tables" are the all-important standings among the intensely competitive firms that raise money for the businesses of the world. Smaller firms which cannot lay claim to any global ranking slice the data to show local or segment dominance -- "we lead in pre-revenue biotechnology follow-on offerings for companies with sub-billion dollar market capitalization," and such.

But what about the freaking global league tables? See below for a map of the world with the countries sized by "free float equity market capitalization" -- what public companies in those markets are worth, in the aggregate, and be proud.

That shit be real.

'nuff said

Transactional democracy and "free stuff"

Apropos of Monday's post on democracy and transactions, we offer this rather arresting chart from Heritage via TaxProf and Instapundit:

Looked at this way, Mitt Romney's infamous "47 percent" comment might have been "60 percent" and remained within the boundary of political truth. Which, of course, only would have made it more catastrophic.

Fortunately for people who earn more than they consume and pay more in taxes than they collect in benefits, American voters are not, as individuals, moved only by their individual economic considerations. Democrats wonder "what's the matter with Kansas?", meaning that they are bewildered by voters who "need" more from government but vote against the party that would deliver more. And there are of course people in the top two quintiles who vote for more "free stuff" even though it comes out of their own pocket. Indeed, the real fights in American politics are often about questions of values or symbols that influence identity far more than mere money. That does not mean they are any less often available to be traded for votes, but they are certainly less susceptible to rendering on a graph.

We see the economic and non-economic considerations most acutely in the candidacy of Donald Trump. He guns for the popularly "undeserving" rich by proposing to tax carried interest as ordinary income, which hurts the "hedge fund guys" and will surely result in more "free stuff" for some people in lower quintiles. He argues forcefully for reduced immigration on that basis as well -- an influx of low-skilled workers who compete against our least-skilled certainly depresses the wages of workers in the lower two quintiles. But Trump also appeals to American identity, with most of his rhetoric around "winning," national greatness, and a fundamentally traditionalist view of American exceptionalism, including some of its best (leadership) and worst (nativist) strains. Whatever one thinks of Trump, his meritage of "free stuff" and inspirational themes feels like a winner -- or might be if it were polished up a bit and disassociated with Trump the man -- however much the mixture offends both the ideological purists and the politically correct.

Last Night's Debate: Dumpster Fire, With A Few Bright Spots

Conducting a debate with 11 people at one time is a tough job, and I would not wish to volunteer for it.  That said, CNN did, and it was a complete dumpster fire.  There was far too little Hugh Hewitt and far too much Jake Tapper.  Most of all, there was far too much focus on the front-runner, whose time speaking doubled some of the field, and when he wasn't speaking, he was being referenced.

The big story of the night was Carly Fiorina, and justifiably so. Her performance was strong, very strong, and she had some of the most memorable riffs of the night, including this bit on Planned Parenthood. 

Although I am biased of course, the punditti seem to agree that my man Rubio came in second.  I was concerned with how quiet he was in the first hour, that his strategy of not being the springbutt was backfiring in this format, but he came on strong throughout most of the night.  Here is one of his very strong moments from the debate.

I thought both Jeb Bush and Chris Christie helped themselves last night, and Mike Huckabee once again showed how light he can be on his feet in debates.  Ted Cruz just plain bothers me--we aren't connecting on many levels, even though I agree with him on several subjects.

There are two huge surprises thus far in this race; the first is the identity of the front-runner, and the second is the prolonged fade of Rand Paul.  He had some real moments of lucidity last night, and if you want a candidate who projects a more careful and less adventurous foreign policy, he's your man. But he simply is nowhere to be found.  I truly believed he would come in second place in this race, and I said it many times.  It looks like I will be wrong on this, as in many other things.

Ben Carson.  I really like the guy.  Someone on Twitter wrote last night "Ben Carson for My Next Door Neighbor".  I think that sums him up.  I'd really like to have the dude as a friend.  Less sure of having him as my President.

Random Ramblings: Debate Edition

So, did you see the debate(s) last evening? I did and once again the first debate was the best one. Bobby Jindal nailed them last night, but good. The crowd at the Reagan Library was filled to the brim with establishment types who were most likely horrified by Ronald Reagan back in the day. They just LOVED when Pataki presented the "Supreme Court uber alles" argument about gay marriage and Obamacare and when Lindsey Graham whined about how helpless we all are unless and until we get a new "Republican" President. Jindal stole my brainwave when he said...

"I wish the Senate Republicans had half the fight in them the Senate Democrats did. They forced Obamacare down our throats even when they didn't have 60 votes. I wish Republicans in D.C. had half the fight of the Senate Democrats to get rid of Obamacare, to defund Planned Parenthood. If we can't defund Planned Parenthood now; if we can't stand up for innocent human life after these barbaric videos, it is time to be done with the Republican party."

Wow, I think that represents the CONSERVATIVE position rather well. When the conversation turned to gay marriage and the Kentucky clerk who stood up for her 1st. Amendment rights Jindal said...

"I'd like the left to give us a list of jobs that Christians aren't allowed to have. If we're not allowed to be clerks, bakers, musicians, caterers ... the first amendment rights -- the right to religious freedom is the first amendment of the constitution. It isn't breaking the law to exercise our constitutional rights."

Graham disagreed, saying, "in a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court, they have ruled that same sex marriage bans at the state level violate the 14th amendment."  

Gee, I wonder where the average GOP voter will come down on this issue? Needless to say Graham is probably done in politics. He hasn't a hope in hell of getting on the national ticket or serving in any administration in any capacity, that's a given. But he's probably ruined himself in South Carolina as well. He would have been a good VP for Gerald Ford (a crowd favorite no doubt). 

The second debate was pretty good too but a lot less spontaneous. There were moments though. Fiorina gave Trump what for and helped herself a lot (many say she "won") but she got it all wrong on "anchor babies" and the 14th Amendment. Rand Paul set her straight on that although he didn't hit the issue too hard. Huckabee gave an impassioned defense of religious liberty but it'll go unnoticed I'm sure. Chris Christie helped himself I'd say. I though he did well. Scott Walker and Marco Rubio both looked good but didn't stand out. Carson would put you to sleep. He's a good man but I don't think I could take four years of that halting speech pattern he's got going on. Jeb showed a little more life but his positions are way way WAY out of touch. He came off as the "transition" President, you know, the guy who would ease us into being the quasi-latin American country the establishment of both parties wants us to be. If he gets 5% in ANY primary I'll be surprised. Trump was, well Trump. Big on entertainment value painting in broad strokes but short on detail. He bitch slapped Jeb all over the stage. I was almost embarrassed for Jeb, he looked like a pussy.

All in all a good night. There was a LOT of talent up on stage. In my view there were only a couple I COULDN'T live with. At this point I just can't see any Democrat that could beat any of these folks. But for me the eventual nominee has to get immigration right! Otherwise this will be the last election we win forevermore. 

Democracy and transactions

Vox notices an old ad for George McGovern, and notes that it explains the appeal of Bernie Sanders:

Of course, the same points would equally explain Donald Trump's current popularity, although it would not be in Vox's nature to notice that. Never mind.

Lost in all the lamentations about campaign finance, "special interests," and ideological purity is this: Democracy is inherently transactional, because humans, who thus far constitute 100% of voters, are by their nature transactional. Some would say that is our great strength as a very violent species that might otherwise have killed ourselves off long ago. The more democracy you have, the more transactions you have. The United States has more democracy than anybody, given our almost unbelievable number of local, state, and national elected offices, so we have more transactions in the formation of our government. Those transactions range from the tawdry -- I'll introduce this bill if you give me or my SuperPAC a big contribution -- to the swapping of earmarks or substantive compromises in momentous legislation. Regardless, democracy as a system does not accommodate either moral or ideological "purity" because neither allow for the transactions necessary to resolve disputes within a democracy. The dreams of liberals and conservatives alike will be forever frustrated, just as the disenchanted youth who nominated George McGovern in 1972 or the rebellious conservatives who dumped Rocky for Goldwater in 1964 discovered to their horror come November. In our system, ideological purity always leads to defeat, as Lyndon Johnson and even the sainted Ronald Reagan knew very well.

None of that means that ideologues cannot change the terms of debate on some subject, but it can -- again -- only be done by transactional compromise. In Mitt Romney, the GOP had the most hawkish candidate on immigration that it is ever likely to nominate, yet a huge number of conservative voters stayed away because they did not like his religion, or his nuanced stance on healthcare, or any number of other imperfections. Will conservatives make that same mistake again?

I Don't Care! An Open Letter to Jeb Bush.

Dear Jeb:

By all accounts you did a good job in Florida. By all accounts you are a competent administrator. By all accounts you are a quality individual and an outstanding public servant. None of that means a thing to me this election. I don't care. I don't care because you are on the wrong side of history. I don't care because you are too willing to compromise. I don't care because you are a rich kid, a product of the best of the best and you haven't an inkling of what my life is about.

What we need is a conservative who will REDUCE the size and scope of the federal government rather than just manage it better than the opposition. We need a conservative who will get immigration under control, build a wall, institute eVerify, do away with "anchor babies" and put the American worker first. We need a conservative who will get rid of trade bills designed to give multinationals the flexibility to move capital and exploit labor on a global scale but refuse to acknowledge their responsibility to the American worker who built their companies in the first place. We need a STRONG conservative who will squeeze every last concession from the opposition and has the guts to stand up to a hostile media that will do every thing they can to destroy you. We need a conservative who will punish and intimidate the opposition as they have punished and intimidated us since 2006.

Jeb, you are NOT that man. You're father was not that man and neither was your brother. All good men no question about that, but good men won't do this time, we need GREATNESS! So you're right to try and channel Reagan into your campaign. But you're no Reagan.

Good luck, but you're just not the man for the job in 2016, I don't care what you say.

The Hammer

The Hammer's College Football Roundup: Week 2

Do you believe in ESP? You know, extra sensory perception like the kid in The Shining. Well I think CW and I have something akin to that going on because when Notre Dame's second string quarterback hit a TD bomb with 12 seconds on the clock to steal one from UVA in Charlottesville, well I could just feel this unendurable pain/frustration/hopelessness coming out of the Mary-Land eastern shore. I thought for a second it was the Russians setting off an EMP weapon or something. Then I realized it was just CW screaming into his embroidered "Wahoolia Rules" pillow he got for his fiftieth. It was a very powerful and disturbing experience for me! Man it was weird, instead of repeating REDRUM REDRUM over and over again he kept saying "WOLBEW, WOLBEW". Still ain't figured that one out yet. Cheer up CW, at least Marco is doing GREAT!

In relevant news we had a couple of real surprises and a couple of barn burners. Tennessee was laying in wait for OU in Knoxville ready to assume their traditional role as a college football power. They came out smoking and had the Sooners down 17-3 at the half but gave up two TDs in the fourth to send it into overtime, where they lost. The Vols scored not one friggin' point in the second half! This one is on the offensive coordinator.

Auburn looked like absolute shit against Jacksonville State. Who's the hell are they you say? That's funny, I was asking the same thing. First I thought it was the old Jacksonville of Artis Gilmore and Rex Morgan (look it up) but I looked it up. It's in Jacksonville, Ala-Goddamn-Bama! I didn't know that shithole had a Jacksonville. Anyway the Gamecocks, that's right the Gamecocks (LOL) played pretty well, especially their QB and gave the War Eagles a scare. Eh, it happens. Wouldn't read too much into this.

Oregon went on the road to East Lansing (is there a West Lansing?) and were one overthrown ball away from an important road win. Sorry, with lots of graduations to make up for it's Ducks Limited this year. Boise State lost to BYU allowing three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. LSU got a nice win against Mississississippi State and Ohio State and the Tide both got wins although they looked a little disinterested while doing it. South Carolina lost to the basketball school of basketball schools Kentucky.

In ACC action Lewisville lost to Houston going 0-2 so looks like their season is screwed. Clemson, Ga. Tech, FSU and Duke all rolled. My beloved WolfPack kicked another junior college in the ass, this weeks chump was Eastern Kentucky. Next week Old Dominion and the week after S. Alabama...can't wait.

Well that's it. Not a bad week, just be glad you didn't go to UVA!

Perry Drops Out: How It Will Go From Here (GOP)

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry left the Presidential race yesterday; it just seemed that his candidacy couldn't get any traction.  Two factors I think contributed to his low numbers, both of which are to some extent tied to his perception in the mainstream media.  First, there was the issue of his disastrous, unprepared run in 2012.  He wasn't ready, and it showed.  Bill Clinton similarly beclowned himself in 1988 at the Democratic Convention, but he was a Democrat, and so his sins weren't remembered when he ran in 1992.  The second contribution to Perry's downfall was the plain fact that he was from Texas.  There is lingering Bush Derangement Syndrome among the cognoscenti, and so his twang, and his boots, mattered far more in their evaluation of him than did the plain fact that he was the most successful, best Governor in the union for 14 years.  It is a shame that he didn't do better, but the Presidency is only partially determined on merit.

So, here's how the rest of the GOP process will go, for those interested.

Three blocs will develop.  The first block is the "Outsider" bloc, made up of Fiorina, Carson, and he who shall not be named.  They will fight it out among themselves to see who will be the last outsider standing in February.  I believe it will be Fiorina, but you may differ.

The next bloc is the Jeb Bush bloc.  That's right, he's all by himself in this one.  His name, his money, and his damn good record lead me to believe that he'll continue on into the three way race once the primaries start.

Finally, there's the "Not Jeb" bloc, which is everyone else.  Cruz, Rubio, Walker, and Kasich will fight it out for the third spot in the three way race that will develop.  Cruz likes to think of himself in the first bloc, but he's really here--along with Rand Paul, whose failure to do better than he is reflects his ideological impurity to the libertarians, who just don't like him as much as they did his Dad.

Count everyone else out.  You heard it here first.

The Death of Europe

Europe is in a fix, and as is usual with do-gooder leftists they did it to themselves. Furthermore, again as usual, they will be asking their citizens to pay the price for their hair-brained schemes. Did I say "ask"? Just kidding.

The EU has done everything they could to erase all their borders for going on something like 20 years now. Used to be you'd be sleeping on a train going through Brenner and some attitudinal Polizei would roust your ass in that guttural, clearing one's throat language of theirs and DEMAND Ihren Reisepass bitte! And lookout if you didn't snap to, they might just go through all your shit just for fun. But those days are over. Now you just walk right in, sit right down and order your free lunch.

Merkel and the other Eurweenie states have two choices; they can round up all these people, put them on a suitable Greek Island somewhere and sort them out one by one.
Ok you're name is Mohammed bin Turd. You claim to be a war refugee from Syria and you're into Miley Cyrus, chicks w/dicks and Al-Farghani history comics. Great, political asylum granted.
Don't do this and a lot of very bad people will be crossing those borders. Plus there's precedence for this approach. The Australians had a "boat people" crisis a couple of years ago. They were getting every raghead bastard from Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma...you name it, riding everything but bathtubs to their country. Initially they tried camps and all the rest. Finally they adopted a policy of turning them away ("HEY YOU...YEAH YOU! Get your ass back to Kuala Lumpur!") or putting them up OUTSIDE the country to be processed. In 2012 they had 300 boatloads of human refuge, in 2015 they've had exactly ZERO.

OR...door Number Two, national suicide maybe twenty years down the line. Don't think so? Well consider...
•Muslims don't play well with others. Given the numbers they will take over. They have to, it's in the Koran.
•European leadership is weak and everybody from the Arabs to Putin to some second grader in Montevideo knows that to be true. There's nothing worse than a leader who acts in the best interest of ANOTHER COUNTRY'S CITIZENS rather than their own. I'm sure you can relate.
• Assimilation is impossible for a Muslim. Islam by its nature is incompatible with a modern democratic state. It is theocratic and authoritarian, and it likes it that way.
•BEST CASE SCENARIO is they live on welfare and the police keep the rapes and honor killings down to a manageable level. According to Peggy Noonan 70%+ are men, mostly in their 20's. How many will get a job and pay taxes? How many will take European wives and start a family and invest in their new country? See the problem? Can you say Der Auslander brannte mein Auto??

Charles Martel is spinning in his grave.

McConnell and Boehner Have to Go

Who would you say are the greatest double crossing, backstabbing turncoats in human history? The spies, liars and rats? Off the top of my head there's Judas Iscariot, Benedict Arnold, Mata Hari, the Rosenbergs, the Cambridge Spy Ring, the post World War II American Democratic Party (featuring Teddy Kennedy on lead guitar), Jonathan Pollard, Aldrich Ames and now I'd have to include the Republicans Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. Unless you've been under a rock the last week or two you've seen the columns blowing the whistle on these jerks, and don't think this is the fringe (like me) talking either, these are well respected writers at well respected news outlets.

I've known these guys were up to no good for a while and so have most people who've been paying attention. My question is why? Why run interference for Obama against your own party? Why work against your own party candidates? Is Obama blackmailing them? Do the powers behind the curtain believe they can succeed WITHOUT the, how will I put it(?) non-progressive wing of the party? Do they not care because the Democrat agenda is their agenda? Are these guys so insulated they either can't or won't see what's happening? Do they know the jig is up and they're just trying to do as much as they can for as long as they can before they are thrown out on their asses? What is the end game here?

Regardless, they are carrying water by the truckload for Obama's hair-brained policies and it's getting real. This Iran non-treaty is so over the top I really can't believe it. This thing has to be stopped otherwise we'll be paying for this one a long LONG time, and that's if it does what they say it will do. Worst case scenario is MIRVed ICBMs in the most volatile part of the world run by the most irresponsible leaders imaginable.

Hillary said last night this thing was the best way to monitor Iran's nuclear program. Here's a thought, maybe allowing a bunch of aggressive, radical, insane ragheads a fuqing nuclear program at all ain't such a good idea. No program no monitoring necessary. But thanks in part to our Congressional leadership, THAT solution is off the table, and make no mistake, they could stop it today if they wanted. Boehner and McConnell need to take the midnight train to Moscow (euphemistically speaking), they have been exposed and the Republican Party rank and file has lost confidence in them (to put it kindly). Donald Trump and Ben Carson are proving this reality as we speak. The point is who gives a damn what the reason is, they are not doing their job, they're damaging the party and the country and they HAVE TO GO!

New York, New York.....

The wobble of Amtrak 93 is a pleasing sensation as I return to Maryland for a night spent in the Big Apple.  The reason for my trip was an invitation from the New York Council of the Navy League to address their "Future War" series.  Never one to miss an opportunity to travel to New York, I quickly agreed.

I trained up yesterday afternoon, after a bit of a snafu.  My day was to have begun by driving to New Carrollton station and parking there, but then taking a Metro to the Pentagon to look in on some work there.  Afterward, I'd metro back to New Carrollton and jump on the Amtrak to New York.  But when I arrived at New Carrollton, I realized that I had forgotten my folder with my speech in it, my train ticket, and my letter of introduction from the Army and Navy Club to the Cornell Club (where I was to spend the night).  So instead of going to the Pentagon, I turned around and drove an hour back to Easton, grabbed the folder (and puttered around a bit), then drove back to New Carrollton to hop the train.

I splurged on business class for this trip, up and back, perhaps the most wasteful travel habit I have.  Business on a train isn't much better than coach, but it costs a lot more.  I arrived at Penn Station at 4:30 and was to meet the Navy League folks for dinner at 6:30--so I walked the twenty minutes or so from Penn Station to the Cornell Club.

Before Hammer calls me an elitist and Tigerhawk accuses me of slumming with the quasi-Ivy League folks, I chose to stay there because that is where the breakfast event I was to speak at the next morning would be held.  My room was very nice, smallish, and equipped with a Murphy Bed, the first time I'd stayed in such a thing.  

I walked to dinner in the steamy New York gloaming, to a little Italian joint on 42nd street.  I met my two hosts, one an octogenarian and the other one year shy of it.  They were spry fellows, quick minded and very patriotic.  We had a delightful dinner (steak, natch) before I headed back to what turned out to be a delightfully comfortable Murphy Bed sleeping experience.

I arose at 5 to listen to my speech again (I generally record a version perfectly read, listen to it a bunch of times and then try to riff it from there), scan the interwebs, and drink coffee in my little room.  After showering, I dressed and headed to the included breakfast buffet, before joining the Navy League crowd at 0745.  I spoke for thirty minutes and then answered thirty minutes of questions.  Good people, very interested, extremely good questions.

After saying goodbyes, I checked out and Ubered down to the 9-11 Memorial.  I had really only one objective, and that was to lay my eyes on the Kitten's husband's name at the memorial.  I thought about going into the museum, but then decided that 1) I didn't want to be a blubbering fool and 2) I didn't want to have to go through a proctological examination through security with my traveling bag.  So I completed my objective, then sought a quiet place to think about that day, and what his death has meant in my life.

Needing to go to meet a Navy buddy for lunch, I summoned another Uber (Black, natch), and headed to a little steakhouse near Penn Station that I had read good things about.  My buddy and I went to XO school together in 1999, and he is retiring in a month after a 30 year career.  A great career, a great American.  We both ate large ribeyes, and neither batted an eye at the size of the other's meal.  Dudes.

Now I'm headed back to New Carrollton to grab my car and head to the Naval Academy, where I will attend the opening of an exhibit at the Naval Academy Museum called "Warrior Writers".  You can see a news story about it by clicking this link.  I'm one of the "warrior writers" in question, and there's a little bit of the exhibit with my name on it.  Then it's on to Easton, a bit of sleep, and then back to the Pentagon in the early morn.

New York is a wonderful place.  I really, really, would love to live and work there someday, but I fear such a thing would mean a hard break from The Kitten, who is justifiably not a fan of the city.  So I figure I'll just keep nipping up now and then and grabbing little bits of it, like last night.  I realize it is cliche, but there is huge energy there, and you feel it as you walk down the street.  I don't get this feeling in DC...

Brotherhood and Solidarity

Yes friends, in the spirit of brotherhood and solidarity the Muslim world has come together and decided... NOT IN MY BACKYARD!

QATAR, the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES and SAUDI ARABIA are increasingly criticized by rights organizations, which say the wealthy Persian Gulf countries have not offered to take in even one Syrian refugee. The nations have contributed to humanitarian aid, some generously.
LA Times 9/8/15

Oh yes thank you, thank you very much for your generosity! The ultra-wealthy oil kingdoms are throwing a few bones at the ultra-stupid Europeans who are currently being flooded with welfare seeking juhadis from all over the Islamic world, but somehow the House of Saud just can't bring themselves to take any in. These "refugees" have either Syrian passports, fake Syrian passports or no passports at all but claim Syrian citizenship (we're refugees from a war zone don't you know) so if you're a humanitarian you must give us political asylum... according to YOUR rules. By the way, these "refugees" refuse to be settled in Greece (they're bankrupt) or Hungary (too far from the media spotlight plus they HATE Saracens from way back and were raised communists, so they're not soft). No, they want Germany, but will take Sweden if that's all you got.
Merkel has agreed to take 800,000 many they know absolutely NOTHING about, JUST THIS YEAR! 800k screaming, hungry, needy, potential suicide bombers, enough to populate Munich, year after year after year while the richest countries in the world, MUSLIM countries, refuse even one.

But come on, why would they take any? They're not stupid. They don't live by the rules we impose upon ourselves which basically say anything we do in our own self-interest, most especially if it conflicts with the interest of minorities or people of color whatever their circumstance or nationality, is by definition racist. No they live by the rule...what's in it for me? From their perspective they're thinking we're rich and we don't need a bunch of po-asses taking our money and fomenting rebellion. Nothing wrong with that. In my view a very reasonable approach.

Some leaders we have in the West. Traitors and cowards the lot.

Kevin Williamson Puts Labor Day In Perspective

A virtuoso performance.  Read it all.  

The Hammer's College Football Review: Week 1

Now, let's say you're heading to the West Coast to get even against one of those Beach Boy teams out there, whatta you do? First thing is realize who it is you're playing. The West Coast is a different country almost. Every week they watch ESPN and it's all east coast, mid-west, SEC. They've got a bit of a chip on their shoulder, therefore they are highly motivated. So you have to take the wind out of their sails first series. Knock 'em in the mouth, tell 'em you hate everything California including the weather but you do like their women of which you intend to wade into up to your gonads as soon as you're finished kicking their blue and gold ass. And then do it.
Here's what you don't do. You don't get cute. You don't  show up in uniforms designed by Project Runway. No, you storm out in the darkest, meanest, most intimidating uniforms you got.

Come out in this?

 UCLA sees this.

Another thing, you gentlemen know my thoughts on the sorry state of college cheerleading. Now we've got a real world example of how certain intangibles can affect the outcome of a game. If you're a young guy fighting the good fight, tired and bleeding, what keeps you going down in the trenches?

Something like this?

                                                             

 Or something like this?

Hot cheerleaders matter! I'm not saying have strippers in cheerleading outfits like 1990's Florida State. What I am saying is the takeover of college cheerleading by hardcore gymnasts is bad for the sport and certainly ain't doing anything for lecherous old bastards like me.

Ok, editorial over, let's get cracking. Since we're talking UCLA/Virginia let's get it out of the way. UCLA's quarterback had a career game yesterday, so the hype was true. Josh Rosen threw for 350 yards, 3 touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes, all against a veteran secondary. Particularly embarrassing for the Wahoos, this was HIS FIRST GAME! UCLA's leading receiver only had about 60 yards so it was a well balance attack.
Ok enough's enough, it's over. Maybe next year... but shit, these clowns made the league look bad. Maybe Va. Tech can regain the ACC a little pride Monday night against OSU.

In other action this was tuneup week so no big surprises. Everybody keeps talking about Stanford's loss to Northwestern but damn, same old same old. Stanford always did run hot and cold. They beat teams they're suppose to lose to and lose to teams they're supposed to beat. It's in the DNA.
Bobby Petrino at Lewis-ville needs clock management remediation but then again his judgement always did suck...riding on a Harley with a 25 year old hottie (too friggin' cool!), getting caught (NOT cool at all). Texas A&M looked impressive but they're just like Stanford, they'll probably lose to SMU next week. Notre Dame looked good against a hapless, hopeless Texas and 'Bama looked GREAT!

Well that's it, sorry for being so hard on UVA CW, but it's all in good fun. I'll leave you with the hit of the day.

Rubio Fund at $1000*

Folks--great news--while the fund is currently at $1000, I received a $2700 check last week that I've mailed off to the finance office....so as soon as that shows up on my online "Tab", I'll claim it here.  Print this form, fill it out, and mail it in!