Face It: Belicheat and the Patriots Can't Not Cheat

The Patriots have issued a statement admitting their crew violated NFL policy by "filming the field and sideline from the press box" ... but insist it was an honest mistake.

The team claims the footage was ONLY supposed to be used for the "Do Your Job" behind the scenes production -- claiming, "There was no intention of using the footage for any other purpose."

The Patriots also admit they did not inform the league about plans to shoot the episode -- calling it an "unintended oversight."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bullshit.

The New England Patriots will push the limits of the rules every chance they get. Having a great team and relying on their abilities alone just isn't enough for Belichick and the Patriots.

Best Xmas Tree Ornament Ever!

No Doubt That Billy and Rudy Will Have Conniption Fits

The FBI was justified in opening its investigation into ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia and did not act with political bias, the Justice Department’s internal watchdog declared Monday, undercutting President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he has merely been the target of a “witch hunt.”

The long-awaited report rejected theories and criticism spread by Trump and his supporters, though it also found “serious performance failures” up the bureau’s chain of command that are likely to be cited by Republican allies as the president faces a probable impeachment vote this month.

No doubt that the partisan hacks, like Barr, will disagree.

Barr is so far up Trump's ass that he keeps bumping heads with Lindsey Graham.

Russia Can't Not Cheat

Members of the World Anti-Doping Agency's Athletes Committee have demanded a blanket ban on Russian athletes competing at the Olympics.

Wada holds a key meeting in Lausanne on Monday to discuss sanctions.

Russia was declared non-compliant for manipulating laboratory data handed over to investigators.

The best way to think of Russian athletes is to imagine that they're all named Lance Armstongov.

There ought to be thought given to stripping Russians of Olympic medals at least back to the beginning of the Putin era.

Your Sunday Morning Prop Noise

A Bf-109, not a Bouchon with a Merlin.

Ho Ho Ho

I am so getting this one:

They Are Not Our Friends

The suspect in the deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida held a dinner party before the attack to watch mass shooting videos, a US official briefed on the situation by federal authorities told the Associated Press.

The suspect, a member of the Saudi Air Force who was in the US for training, shot and killed three people and wounded another seven Friday in a horrific act of violence. During the attack, another Saudi student, one of three who reportedly attended the dinner party, filmed the shooting at the US naval base.

Two other Saudi students are said to have watched from a car.

Ten Saudi students have reportedly been detained for questioning. Some of the Saudi nationals at the base are, however, currently unaccounted for, the AP reports.

President Genius; Stable; Very had something to tweet:

President Donald Trump said Friday that he had spoken by phone to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Al-Saud, following a deadly shooting on a Pensacola, Florida naval base. Authorities have said that the shooter, who killed at least three people and wounded at least eight, was a visiting Saudi national.

“King Salman of Saudi Arabia just called to express his sincere condolences and give his sympathies to the families and friends of the warriors who were killed and wounded in the attack that took place in Pensacola, Florida,” Trump tweeted shortly after 2:00pm on Friday.

“The King said that the Saudi people are greatly angered by the barbaric actions of the shooter, and that this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people who love the American people,” Trump added.

Horseshit.

I have little doubt that King Salman knows as much as what the average Saudi thinks as does Trump, or, for that matter, a street camel. But it is interesting that Trump didn't talk to Prince Bone Saw, or maybe he leaves that task to his son-in-law, who is a paid-up member of the Future Felons of America.

And this:

The gunman - Saudi national Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani who was a trainee at the site - killed three people in a classroom before being shot dead.

Authorities have not said the other students were involved.

A Twitter user appearing to match Alshamrani's identity had made a series of anti-US posts, US media say.

But US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on Saturday that he would not label the incident as "terrorism" at this point.

For you know that if the shooter had been a student from any other Middle Eastern country. Trump would have sent Gruppenfuhrer Miller out to screech about the wisdom of Trump's Muslim bans and how they would have prevented this tragedy. The Trump Propaganda Network would be wall-to-wall screeching about terrorism.

This is not all on Trump, of course. Our national policy has been "suck up to the Saudis" for decades. But this is still on Trump because this is his watch.

If there is a reason for green sources of energy other than to do something about climate change, it is to push the Saudis back into irrelevancy.

Model 10 Bangity

AIR Surplus has heavy barrel Model 10s in "shooter grade". These have been imported by CAI.

I ordered one.

The bluing is worn away along the barrel and on spots on the cylinder. There is some pitting under the grips. The import markings are discreet; on the underside of the barrel and under the ejector rod.

But the timing of the gun is in nearly-new condition. The bore, once I removed the traces of leading, is mirror-bright. It is definately a gun that was carried a lot and shot very little.

It shoots very well.

If you think that you may ever have a need for one, jump on this with both feet.

Caturday

Because It's Friday

A hard climb for a British locomotive

World's Oldest Toddler Leaves in a Huff

Remember when Trump claimed the world was laughing at the United States? Turned out that he was wrong; the world is laughing at him.

Note that one of the leaders taking part was Boris Johnson, the UK's mini-Trump.

It's not the first time.

Anyway, President Snowflake was not amused, so he canceled a press conference and left the NATO meeting early, because they were so mean to him! That's the behavior of an aggrieved toddler, not that of a serious adult.

It's just pitiful.

(I'd compare him to a whiny-ass tweener, but that would be insulting to tweeners.)

Bye, Kamela

Kamala Harris dropped out of the race today.

From what I saw, she didn’t have much of a message beyond “I’m not Joe Biden.” Unlike a number of the other candidates, Harris didn't seem to have a sense of what she was running on, other than possibly a claim for the mantle of Barack Obama.

From the stories over the last few weeks, her campaign management was similarly unfocused.

Hard to say that anyone will miss her.

So, How Far Do You Take Moral Superiority

In a post mainly about HIV/AIDS coming to rural areas because of opioid addiction, a "caring conservative" advocated not treating anyone who is gay who contracts HIV.

So I want to know: How far do you guys on the Right want to take medical Darwinism? Let's try a few hypotheticals:

• You're a paramedic. You're called to an OD at a trailer park. You have Narcan and can easily save that person's life. Do you?
• Second version of that:  The person ODing is the son of one of the richest men in the state.  Do you administer a dose of Narcan?
• You're running an ER.  Several people come in, injured in a collision.  The driver is obviously intoxicated.  Do you treat him, or do you set him aside?
• You're a cop, responding to a domestic incident.  A guy has beat the shit out of his girlfriend.  You've responded to calls involving these people before.  Do you do anything, because the girlfriend won't get a protection order, let alone leave the guy?
• You're a first responder, responding to a crash where one vehicle smashed into the rear of a truck.  One of the cops on the scene picks up the driver's phone, examines it and pronounces that the driver had been texting at the time of the impact.  Do you let the driver bleed out in the wreck?
• Same situation, the driver is a powerful politician in the political party you support.  You think the politician could eventually be president.
• Two cars collided.  The occupants of Car A are in worse shape than Car B.  The people in Car A weren't wearing their seat belts.  The ones in Car B were wearing their seat belts.  Who do you treat first?
• A motorcycle rider is brought into the ER who obviously was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and no helmet.  The rider's injuries are bad and consistent with not wearing safety gear.  Treat or no treat?

There are a lot more that can be dreamed up, depending on one's political leanings. Is there any place for applying a sense of moral judgment to treatment decisions? And if so, where do you draw the line?

"I Didn't Do Nuttin' See! The Charges Are Political, See!"(But I'm Guilty.)

California Rep. Duncan Hunter said he plans to plead guilty to misusing campaign funds and is prepared to go to jail, a stunning turn of events for the six-term Republican who had steadfastly denied wrongdoing and claimed he was the victim of a political witch hunt by federal prosecutors.
...
The combat Marine veteran and an early supporter of President Donald Trump said he will plead guilty to one count of misuse of campaign funds. Federal prosecutors alleged he and his wife spent more than $250,000 in campaign money for golf outings, plane tickets and a family vacation to Italy, as well as household items from places like Costco.

Hunter spent the last year screaming that he was being persecuted and was the subject of a witch-hunt.

But now he's probably going to prison.

Back to Real World ASW

There's nothing like practicing against the other guys.

AIDS Comes to TrumpLand

HIV and AIDS are coming to rural counties and they're not at all ready for it.

Once things start to get bad, look to Republicans to all of a sudden start caring about people with HIV and AIDS. Kind of in the same way that Trump began to care about doing something about the Mexican cartels only when a bunch of renegade Mormons got whacked.

On the other hand, I suspect nothing will change. There is a core group of Republicans who will claim that those people who contract HIV and AIDS are suffering some sort of divine retribution for sinning, only this time around, it's for using drugs. Or having sex with somebody who used drugs.

Every time I hear one of those Talibanistas talk about 'hating the sin, loving the sinner", I want to throw up.They don't mean a single word of it.

Webley-Fosbery Revolver

Ian McCollum takes a look at the Webley-Fosbery revolver:

They are neat guns, indeed. I've never seen a copy.

Between the development of smokeless ammunition and the maturation of semiautomatic handguns and automatic rifles, there was a lot of innovation that came at nearly blinding speed.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

The latest variant of the 747, the -8F:

g

Fifty years of production isn't nothing.

Caturday

Jasmine is voicing displeasure at not being permitted to partake of the Thanksgiving feast: