While Trump Was Trying to Show Empathy, Pence Was Pouring Salt Into the Wounds

Two days after the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, Vice President Pence bowed his head at a rally on Monday in Michigan as a religious leader who casts himself as a “rabbi” offered a prayer for the victims in Pittsburgh.

But the man who shared a stage with Pence, Loren Jacobs, preaches Messianic Judaism, a tradition central to Jews for Jesus, a group condemned by Jewish leaders as faux Judaism that seeks to promote Christian evangelism. The major Jewish denominations join the state of Israel in viewing followers of Messianic Judaism as Christian, not Jewish.

Let's be clear about this: A person who believes that Jesus is/was the son of G-d and is/was the Messiah is a Christian. "Jews for Jesus" is a contradiction in and of itself.

Pence having a Christian who is masquerading as a Jew pray for the victims of the Asswipe of Pittsburgh is offensive as all fuck.

Or, as someone else alluded: “Pence Embraces Fake Jews.”

Unconstitutional Trump

The first section of the Fourteenth Amendment:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

If you are born in the U.S., you are a citizen. That is the plain language of the Constitution.

But Trump can't read and/or he is an imbecile.

President* Trump plans to sign an executive order that would remove the right to citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born on U.S. soil, he said yesterday in an exclusive interview for "Axios on HBO," a new four-part documentary news series debuting on HBO this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT.
...
"We're the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States ... with all of those benefits," Trump continued. "It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And it has to end.

There is no "essentially" about it. That's what the Constitution says. If Trump tries this, when it gets to the Supremes, I guess we'll see how the conservative judges adhere to their proclaimed fealty to the plain language of the Constitution.

Also, he is outright lying that the United States is the only country in the world that has birthright citizenship. 87% of the nations in the Western Hemisphere do.

Like It or Not, Trump Owns This One

This was Trump's statement about the Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre:

As you can see, he delivered that statement with all of the empathy and feeling of someone reading aloud the side-effects of a prescription drug.

Trump owns this one. Neo-Nazis enthusiastically supported Trump in ‘16 and, when it was pointed out to him that prominent racists were supporting him, such as David Duke, Trump denied knowing anything about Duke or the various neo-Nazi groups. He hired staff members with ties to neo-Naz groups here and abroad. When the Tiki-torch Nazis were marching and chanting racist and anti-semitic slogans, the best that Trump could do was say that there were bad people "on many sides". He has explicitly engaged in ethnic and religious attacks and has disavowed or apologized for none of them. He repeatedly makes racist claims that have no degree of truth.

In short, not only is Trump a divider, not a uniter, he revels in creating division and chaos. That is exactly what we are getting.

As far as the American political system goes, Trump is an antichrist.

"Guns Are Not The Answer to Synagogue Shootings"

That's what the Mayor of Pittsburgh says. He, instead, thinks gun control is an answer.

I respectfully suggest that the esteemed Mayor of Pittsburgh is very wrong.

It will take little research to determine that the response to state laws imposing registration and/or disposition of "assault-style" rifles and large-capacity magazines have been widely ignored. So, barring an extremely expensive buyback campaign, those guns are going to be there for a very long time. Saying that we can fix this problem by passing more gun-control laws is a pipe dream.

The police are not the answer. The cops were on the scene in minutes, but that was still enough time for the Asswipe to kill nearly a dozen people.

We are, sadly, going to see more of this. Asswipe will be lionized by the neo-Nazis as a hero who had the stones to do more than post nasty things online. The shootings by the Asswipes of Columbine have inspired a significant number of copycats. It takes no great feat of prognostication to suppose that we won't see more.

What we cannot do: Overreact. As much as I despise the neo-Nazis and their fellow-travelers, trying to stamp them out is folly. Maybe watch them to the full extent permitted by the Constitution, but keep in mind that the Asswipe of Squrrel Hill had no criminal history. There was nothing to him, other than his running his digital mouth, untl yesterday.

Posting guards may make people feel protected. But whether they are professionals...

...or not...

...the main function of a prominent armed guard is to function as a canary in a coal mine: You know there's a problem when he gets shot.

I doubt if many houses of worship are going to tolerate being locked on their Sabbaths. Too many people are coming. Having a security screening checkpoint does a few things: First, it bunches up people. When the attacker's goal is carnage, a mass of potential victims is a desirable thing. Second, unless the screening is under surveillance by more than one armed guard, it's little more than security theater. Third, it may be counterproductive, in that it can discourage attendance.

What can be done?

Change the location of services from time to time. This could also be a nice way for other faiths to stand with the synagogues: They could swap out with the local synagogue on a weekend. The announcements would have to be by word-of-mouth or by ail. Post nothing online until after the fact.

If your congregation bans bringing cell phones to worship, rethink that. Yesterday, people who escaped the carnage were running to houses down the street so they could call the cops.

I know it's anathema to a lot of people to bring guns to services, but rethink that. Active shooter training is nice, but being able to do more than passively resist is better. Three or six people popping at the Asswipe with even J-frames might have had a positive outcome. It could not have been worse.

Finally, there was a time, several decades ago, when there was a wave of synagogue bombing throughout the South. RUMINT was that Mossad quietly contacted the FBI and told them "either you fix this problem or we will." That may be an option once more.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Boeing-707

October 26th marked the sixtieth anniversary of the 707's first revenue fight by Pan Am: Idlewild to Le Bourget. Ten months later, the 707-320s began flying, which didn't normally require a fuel stop at Gander or Shannon.

Pittsburgh Shooting; This Shit is Getting Close to Home

Police said a suspect was in custody after a shooting caused “multiple casualties” at a Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday.

Three officers were also shot in the attack at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Police sources tell KDKA’s Andy Sheehan the gunman walked into the building and yelled, “All Jews must die.” Sheehan’s sources confirmed that eight people were dead. Others had been shot, but the extent of their injuries in unknown at this time.

Tree of Life is conservative and welcomes all. That some Asswipe would go there and kill people is an abomination.

I know that area. I have family there. Their house is inside the area that has been locked down. So this shit is personal.

From yesterday's post: This shit is getting worse.

UPDATE: Our Arsonist-in-Chief is decrying the spread of fires.

Caturday

Chip in "cat loaf" position.

Something I Could Not Care Less About

Megyn Kelly got shitcanned by NBC, though they'll likely have to pay her another $30 mil anyway. Her blackface comments made it easy for NBC to dowhat they've wanted to: Dump a loser show.

When Fox News was asked if they'd take her back, their response boiled down to: "HAHAHAHA. No."

Trump Claims That the Mail-Bomb Story is Fake, But a Trumpanzee Has Been Arrested For Sending Them

Trump may say it's fake, but not so much, it seems:

A Florida man with a long criminal history was taken into custody Friday in the nationwide mail-bomb scare targeting prominent Democrats who have traded criticism with President* Donald Trump. It was a first break in a case that has seized the national conversation and spread fear of election-season violence with little precedent in the U.S.

Law enforcement officials identified the man as [The Asswipe of Aventura], 56, of Aventura, Florida. Court records show [Asswipe], an amateur body builder with social media accounts that denigrate Democrats and praise Trump, has a history of arrests for theft, illegal steroids possession and a 2002 charge of making a bomb threat.

This isn't the only piece of disturbing news about Trump supporters:

Far-right extremists have ramped up an intimidating wave of anti-Semitic harassment against Jewish journalists, political candidates and others ahead of next month’s U.S. midterm elections ... “Prior to the election of President Donald Trump, anti-Semitic harassment and attacks were rare and unexpected, even for Jewish Americans who were prominently situated in the public eye. Following his election, anti-Semitism has become normalized and harassment is a daily occurrence,” the report says.

The far-right, whether they be described as "alt-right", "neo-Nazis", or "white nationalists", all comprise different flavors of a movement that, at its core, uses violence and threats to intimidate everyone.

Trump is their guy. Oh, he says things like this:

“We must never allow political violence to take root in America. We cannot let it happen. And I am committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it — and to stop it now.”

But by his past words, he clearly doesn't mean it. What did he expect would happen when he calls the free press "enemies of the people"? Trump approved of bodyslamming a reporter (the Trumpist congressman who did it pled guilty). He said he was thinking about paying the legal fees of a Trumpanzee who sucker-punched a protester. He made that offer at other rallies and called on his security guards to be harsher.

Trump has embraced violent acts against his opponents. That one of his more-batshit-crazed supporters took him at his word should be no surprise.

Because It's Friday

Steam in Bulgaria for some sort of wartime recreation:

OPSEC Trump (plus more)

When President* Trump calls old friends on one of his iPhones to gossip, gripe or solicit their latest take on how he is doing, American intelligence reports indicate that Chinese spies are often listening — and putting to use invaluable insights into how to best work the president and affect administration policy, current and former American officials said.

Mr. Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the voluble president, who has been pressured into using his secure White House landline more often these days, has still refused to give up his iPhones. White House officials say they can only hope he refrains from discussing classified information when he is on them.

If thy are hoping that Trump would excercise any degree of self-control, they have to be severeely delusional.

Trump denies it, of course, but Trump lies about everything. Like the overly large toddler that he s, Trump takes umbrage at anyone even mildly suggesting to him that he shouldn't do something that he wants to.

Meanwhile:

Saudi prosecutors said Thursday that Turkish evidence shows the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was premeditated, another change in the shifting Saudi Arabian narrative of what happened to the writer who was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

I wonder what is Arabic for "Deputy Fife". The Saudis have said that "he left on his own," "he died in a fistfight", "he was was accidentally killed when he tried to leave" and only now are they suggesting that it was a hit.

The Turks claim to have surveillance footage of Saudi diplomatic vehicles going into a forest a few days befre, presumably to scout or prepare places to dump body parts The Saudis may be in theposition of having to acknowledge at least part of the truth, since none of their lies are standing up to scrutiny.

Now, back the the bombs:

President* Donald Trump blamed the media Thursday for a “very big part of the Anger we see today in our society,” as law enforcement scrambled to find those responsible for sending pipe bombs and other suspicious packages to a list of prominent Democrats including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and to CNN.

Trump has been debasing the political rhetoric in this country for a very long time, going back to his racist birtherism, calling Mexicans rapists and murderers, approving of violence against reporters, saying that there were "good people" among the neo-Nazis and calling the free press "the enemy of the people".

Trump is a master of hateful rhetoric. He doesn't use a dog-whistle, he uses an air horn. For him to now blame the press for the current tone is laughable.

Step One: Prince Bone Saw Should Commit Seppuku

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday described the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi as a "heinous" crime in his first comments since some of his closest aides were implicated in the Saudi journalist's death.

Speaking at an investors' conference in Riyadh that has been overshadowed by the crisis, bin Salman said those responsible for the killing would be brought to justice.

Our spooks believe that Prince Bone Saw ordered the murder of Khashoggi.

Prince Bone Saw had Khashoggi's son, Salah, brought before him so that the Price Who Ordered the Hit could give his condolences to the son of the man that he had killed.

Note that Prince Bone Saw has forbidden Khashoggi's family from traveling, essentially using them as hostages to persuade Khashoggi to return.

The House of Saud has been a despicable bunch for decades. They have funded the proliferation of an extremist version of Islam. The Saudis have been funding terrorism for a very long time.

It's high time to cut loose of them.

Megan McCain Sets a New High-Water Mark for Stupid; Pipe Bombing Ed.

After some lunatic(s) sent pipe bombs to CNN, President Obama, Secretary Clinton and apparently put one in George Soro's mailbox, Meghan McCain sad that was equivalent to yelling at Republicans:

McCain broke in to say the Senate majority leader was already facing similar threats as the Clintons and Obamas — and so are “The View” panelists.

“He’s getting harassed and heckled when he goes out in public to have dinner with his wife,” she said. “So are we.”

Not even hardly, Meghan. You get an F on your test of Both-siderism.

Despicable Donald Keeps Being Despicable

Now he's politicizing the Board of Veterans Appeals, a body that has been nonpartisan for the last 85 years.

Even the Bush the Lesser administration, which had a fetish about putting "loyal Bushies" everywhere, didn't touch the BVA.

Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner are Rolling in Their Graves

This was an item that merited airing today on the Eastern/Central Edition of ABC "World News Tonight":

A suspected intruder was shot while trying to gain entry to a news station in Washington D.C. Monday afternoon, according to the station.

Fox 5 DC reports that the suspect was trying to get into their office in Friendship Heights when the incident took place.

Source familiar with the matter told ABC News that the suspect who was shot was known to law enforcement authorities and is believed to have a history of mental illness. D.C. police are investigating the incident and exactly what led the officer to discharge his weapon.

Some guy who apparently was mentally ill kicked in the doors of a television station and was shot for his trouble and that's of national/global significance?

What sort of drugs are being used by David Muir? He's not just the news reader, he's the frigging managing editor. He, presumably, has a lot of say in what stories make it onto the air. This is an important story; far more important than Trump scuttling the INF Treaty, a story that has gotten barely a mention from Mr. Muir.

See, global destabilization by Trump, Xi and Putin is a far less important issue to ABC than some missing kid.

At least according to the idiots at ABC News.

The Migrant Caravan; or Why Donald Trump Is Possibly the Most Despicable Person Alive

A ragged army of Honduran migrants streamed through southern Mexico on Sunday heading toward the United States, after making an end-run around Mexican agents who briefly blocked them at the Guatemalan border.
...
After praising Mexico for its no-nonsense response when police at a southern border bridge pushed the migrants back with riot shields and pepper spray, U.S. President Donald Trump again hammered Democratic Party opponents over what he apparently sees as a winning issue for Republicans a little over two weeks ahead of midterm elections.

After blaming the Democrats for “weak laws” on immigration a few days earlier, Trump said via Twitter: “The Caravans are a disgrace to the Democrat party. Change the immigration laws NOW!”

One question is not being asked: Why is this massive march of migrants happening now? Why not three or six months ago?

Who benefits from organizing or spurring a massive on foot march of Central American migrants to the U.S. border right at this particular time?

Well, we all know who benefits. This guy:

The migrant march smells like a classic GOP rafucking exercise.

But the migrant caravan is by no means the only despicable thing that Trump is doing right now.

The Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, the most drastic move yet in a governmentwide effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law.

To any Log Cabin Republicans reading this: Do you seriously believe that Trump is going to stop there? You guys are next. The Christian Taliban wants to reverse the Supreme Courts rulings (Lawrence v. Texas, U.S. v. Windsor, and Obergefell v Hodges) that decriminalized being gay and granted gay folk the right to marry. Trump thinks he can probably get there since the Court now includes Justice "I Like Beer and Groping Women" Kavanaugh.

The Christian Taliban want to go back to the days when LGBT people were outlaws in the ancient sense, that they were beyond the protection of the laws. Trump will go along with that because the CT are part of his base.

Hell, Trump would push to overturn Loving v Virginia, if he thought he could. That would please his Nazi base.

Murderin' Trump Helps With the Saudi Coverup

Sure as the Sun rises, Trump is buying into the Saudi fiction that Khashoggi was accidentally killed in a fistfight:

After two weeks of shifting stories, Saudi Arabia said Saturday that its agents strangled Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist, during a fistfight inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and that 18 men had been arrested in the case. ... President Trump on Friday night said that Saudi Arabia’s statements were credible...

Except that the statements are in no wise credible. They are almost certainly utter lies. Trump has been told as much.

But Trump doesn't care. He is as utterly amoral a man who has occupied the Oval Office since Nixon and is possibly the most corrupt since Harding. Nixon did a lot of things, but as far as I know, he didn't help cover up the murder of a journalist.

Trump his doing just that. He is an accessory to the murder of a legal American resident after the fact. It is becoming abundantly clear that there is nothing too low or evil for Trump to stoop to.

Caturday

Window cats:

The Saudi Lie du Jour

Journalista Jamal Khashoggi died after a fight in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the country's state TV reported quoting an initial probe.

Riight. A sixty-year old man who appeared to be somewhat obese got into a fight with a bunch of goons half his age. And the Saudis brought an autopsy expert with a bone saw to serve coffee. The boxes that they used to bring out his dismembered body were brought to pack presents for Eid Al-Fitr.

Besides Trump helping the Saudis cover this up, the chances are fair that all fifteen of the men involved will be (if not already are) in desert graves out past the Saudi equivalent of Terlingua. Or something similar.

The Saudis really do need to hire Sarah Huckabee Sanders to instruct them in the fine points of lying.

Meanwhile, Trump still thinks that it's fantastic that a Rethuglican congressman physically attacked a reporter. So it may be understandable that the Saudis thought that he would be fine with them killing one. Trump is an enemy of freedom, a foe of the Constitution.

Because It's Friday

Japanese steam:

Murdering Trump's Presumption of Innocence Only Applies to Him and His Friends

“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump said. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned.”

Keep in mind that this is the same guy who said Hillary Clinton was guilty and still eggs his crowds into chanting "Lock her up" (no charges have been brought, let alone proven). He thinks James Comey is guilty of something (no charges or convictions) Also keep in mind that Trump claimed that the Central Park Five were guilty, despite their being exonerated by DNA evidence.

The conclusion is clear: In Trump's mind, the presumption of innocence only applies to those he likes, himself above all.

UPDATE: BooMan suggests that Trump is being, in essence, an accessory to murder after the fact.

Bad Times at the El Royale

Bad Times at the El Royale: The movie can best be described as "imitation Tarantino", in that a Tarantino move would be steak and this flick would be a can of corned beef.

The plot is here.

The Atlantic calls it "inventive and indulgent". They got the second part right; somebody indulged the director when they greenlit this turd.

My recommendation: Save your money and the 3 hours of time (with previews) that you could put to good use by doing almost anything else. Even a nap would be a better use of your time. If I had a set of noise-canceling headphones with me, I'd have slept through it.

Concentration Camps, in China, are Vo-Tech Schools (So They Claim)

Under mounting international criticism, China has given its most extensive defense yet of its sweeping campaign to detain and indoctrinate Muslims, with a senior official on Tuesday describing its network of camps in the far west as humane job-training centers.

I think it's fair to say that anyone who buys that line of bullshit is either pad by the Chinese or is a Chinese stooge.

Saudis Start Revving Up the Bus

As pressure mounted on Saudi Arabia to disclose what it knows about Khashoggi’s fate, U.S. officials began predicting over the weekend that the Saudis would inevitably admit complicity in the death of Khashoggi and claim a “botched operation,” said one person familiar with the discussions.

Over the past few days, Saudi officials have discussed issuing a statement that, in part, would mention a botched operation and call for the punishment of culpable officials, according to another person with knowledge of the discussions.

Riight. "Botched interrogation," my ass. The Turks have claimed that one of the fifteen Saudi "tourists" who flew into Istanbul for several hours was a forensic specialist who had a bone saw.

Who brings a guy whose expertise is autopsying and dismembering bodies to an interrogation?

Meanwhile, lobbying firms are dumping Saudi Arabia and attendees to "Davos in the Desert" are canceling, at least those from countries that pretend to care about human rights.

However Trump ultimately reacts, keep in mind that for him, it's all about the grift.

The Fix is Shaping Up For the Khashoggi Murder

President* Donald Trump is suggesting that “rogue killers” may be responsible for whatever happened to missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump told reporters as he departed the White House en route to Florida Monday that he spoke by phone with Saudi Arabia’s King and that “The King firmly denied any knowledge” of the disappearance.

Trump says he doesn’t “want to get” into King Salman’s mind, but says, “it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers.”

Anyone who would buy that story is either a complete chucklehead or has been bought and paid for. Maybe both.

The idea that a "team of rouge killers", being fifteen Saudi officials who went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, tortured, killed and dismembered Khashoggi, and then flew out with his remains is laughable. Especially when one considers that Saudi Arabia is an absolute and despotic monarchy. I doubt very much that this was a "turbulent priest" killing.

Trump, though, is desperate to find a way out of this that doesn't involve the Saudis retaliating against his business interests, so he is grasping at feeble reeds.

Your Sunday Morning Big Prop Noise

Here is something you don't see every day: A Douglas B-23/UC-67.

Legend has it that the B-25 was chosen over the B-23 for the Doolittle Raid because the -25's wingspan was 25' shorter.

Caturday

Chip replenishes his solar cells.

Couple of Gun Videos

Shooting through a coat pocket:

I stripped out all of the preliminaries, but if you want to watch them, here ya go.

I was somewhat surprised that there wasn't a problem with running a revolver with an external hammer. It might be different with a hammer-mounted firing pin, though.

Next up, Jerry Miculek shoots S&W's new Model 19:

The Carry Comp looks interesting. I might be a recoil-wimp, but I can definitely tell the difference between firing .357s out of a K-frame as opposed to a L- or N-frame gun. Shooting .357s out of a Model 27 is fun. It's not fun from a older Model 19. It's still sort of fun out of a 686. I have a steel J-frame .357; I'm not about to shoot .357s through it.

My feeling is that with short barrels, the difference between .38+P and .357 is a lot more noise, muzzle blast and not much more velocity. I suspect that if you had to shoot a short-barrel .357 indoors in a self-defense situation with no ear protection, you'd stand a good chance of losing all or most of your hearing.

Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes

A 27-year-old New Haven man was walking on Sperry Street from Whalley Avenue toward Goffe Street, when he was confronted by a man holding a knife, according to police.

“The knife-wielding man said, ‘Happy Halloween,’ and stabbed the victim,” Officer David Hartman said in a release. “The victim’s cousin — a 24-year-old Hamden man — was waiting in his car. He heard the commotion, got out of his car, and was also stabbed by the assailant.”

But the 24-year-old had a pistol on him and shot his assailant in the chest, police said.

The stabber became suddenly ill and died of his case of bullet wounds.

Because It's Friday

A Robb-Armstrong stationary steam engine:

You can see all of the bits moving around from a day when the attitude towards machinery hazards was "don't do nothing stupid."

Trump to Saudi Arabia: "Kill Whomever You Wish, as Long as You Buy Our Jets."

The Turkish government has told U.S. officials that it has audio and video recordings that prove Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul this month, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.

The recordings show that a Saudi security team detained Khashoggi in the consulate after he walked in Oct. 2 to obtain an official document before his upcoming wedding, then killed him and dismembered his body, the officials said.

Trump as much said that he'll give the Saudis a pass on this.

“I don’t like stopping massive amounts of money that’s been pouring into our country. They are spending 110 billion on military equipment,” Trump said, referring to proposed sales announced in May 2017 when he went to Saudi Arabia in the first overseas trip of his presidency.

One could argue, I guess, that only proves that Trump is a very expensive whore, which is no surprise. It wouldn't have taken the arms deal; the Saudis know that all they have to do is engage in some oleaginous flattery to fluff up Trump's ego and he's their man.

The Khashoggi murder is a further sign that the Saudis are a little bit whacko. Earlier this year, they virtually broke diplomatic relations with Canada over a single tweet. Now, businesses and even lobbyists are starting to question if taking Saudi gelt is worth the stench.

But as long as there is both money and flattery being offered, Trump has no sense of smell.

A New First for Manned Space Flight

Two astronauts from the U.S. and Russia were safe Thursday after an emergency landing in the steppes of Kazakhstan following the failure of a Russian booster rocket carrying them to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos’ Alexei Ovchinin lifted off as scheduled at 2:40 p.m. (0840 GMT; 4:40 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but their Soyuz booster rocket failed about two minutes after the launch.

As far as I know, it's the first manned launch in which the crew survived an in-flight booster failure.

More to the point, depending on how quickly and safely the Russians can ready another Soyuz, it's possible that the ISS may be abandoned, if only temporarily. I suspect that neither Boeing's Starliner or SpaceX's Dragon 2 will be ready to take a crew to the ISS within the next two years.

It Now Seems That the Saudis Whacked a Troublesome Journalist

Top Turkish security officials have concluded that the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on orders from the highest levels of the royal court, a senior official said Tuesday.

The official described a quick and complex operation in which Mr. Khashoggi was killed within two hours of his arrival at the consulate by a team of Saudi agents, who dismembered his body with a bone saw they brought for the purpose.
...
Fifteen Saudi agents had arrived on two charter flights last Tuesday, the day Mr. Khashoggi disappeared, the official said.

All 15 left just a few hours later, and Turkey has now identified the roles that most or all of them held in the Saudi government or security services, the official said. One was an autopsy expert, presumably there to help dismember the body, the official said.

What is known for certain is that Khashoggi was last seen entering the consulate. The Saudis say that he's not there, but that's pretty easy to say if they dismembered Khashoggi and took his remains with them.

I'll bet that the Saudis think that they'll get a pass from the United States for killing someone who is a dissident journalist, based, in part, from Trump's often-stated views that reporters are enemies of the people.

I'll also wager that their assessment was correct.

Caudillo Trumpo Seeks to Limit Your First Amendment Rights to Protest

At least, where he might hear them. The ACLU has the details.

I'd like to think that these proposed restrictions are as unconstitutional as fuck, but with a Supreme Court that includes a justice who promised to have his revenge on those who opposed him, all bets are off.

Trump News

U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley abruptly announced Tuesday she is resigning at the end of the year, raising fresh questions about the Trump team and about the outspoken diplomat’s own political ambitions.

Trump wants to nominate Ivanka, but he won't because of nepotism issues. My recollection is that presidents appointing close family members was made illegal after JFK appointed RFK as his AG.

Trump also said he was concerned about the Saudis apparently whacking a WaPo correspondent. But he doesn't seem to care very much. I'll wager that in his eart of heats, he's tickled pink at the idea of a government killing a pesky reporter.

In the No-Fly Zone

Astute readers of this blog may have noticed that I haven't written about flying since last year. If you've realized that and you read the previous post, then you probably have put two and two together.

Which is this: Last winter, I developed a medical condition. I am fine, now, mostly. The specialist regards me as a "textbook success story". I can go about my everyday life without any indication to any casual observer that I've got what I have.

With one exception: I cannot act as pilot-in-command of a powered aircraft.

One thing I have learned from going to sea and then well over a thousand hours of flying is that there is nothing to be gained from wringing hands and moaning over how one has gotten into a given situation. This is not the same as learning a lesson from having gotten into a situation.[1] When you're in a situation, you ignore all of that background noise and do what needs must.

Anyway, if you'd be interested in a four-place taildragger that's a solid flying airplane, but no beauty, scroll down, find my email address and drop me a line.
_____________________________________________
[1] In this case, the cause is "idiopathic", which is medicalese for "we haven't got a fucking clue as to why."

"Light" Sport Aviation News

RUMINT has it that the FAA may be in the works of redefining a "light sport aircraft". In essence, the weight limit would be increased from 1,300 lbs to 3,600 lbs. I don't know if the FAA is thinking about increasing the 120kt speed restriction for LSAs, but, with ADS-B, they may have some data as to what speeds LSAs are really flown at.

The attraction for LSAs is that no medical certification paperwork is required. But, and this is a "but" that gets ignored, every time a LSA (or Basic Med) pilot flies, that pilot is certifying that he or she has no disqualifying medical conditions.

What this means is that if there is a problem that results in bending metal or attracts the FAA's attention, you can get in some trouble for essentially fibbing about being fit to fly. The insurance company can deny coverage.

So if you have a disqualifying medical condition, LSA gets you nothing more than what has been traditionally available: Gliders, balloons, and single-seat ultralights.

Dumbshit Trump Can't Resist Being a Dumb Shit

President* Donald Trump has said the sex assault claims made against his new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were a "hoax" and "all made up".

He just can't take a win, shut up, and move on to the next fight. No siree, he has to pour salt into the wounds and cackle with glee.

It's just dumb. Why further inflame one's enemies?

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

Comet 4s:

BOAC was the first to offer transatlantic service with the Comet 4, which began sixty years ago this month. However, it was widely apparent that the Comet 4 was inferior to the Boeing 707-120, to the point that BOAC ordered 707s years before they took delivery of their first Comet 4.

The first 707s went into service a few weeks after the Comet 4s.

Caturday

I don't know whose cats they are; it's just a random photo found in the Interwebs:

Because Its Friday

Nobody does "heritage steam" like the British:

Shutting off Trump's Texts

Stephen Colbert shows how:

The whole bit is good.

Crossing Borders With Electronic Devices

I've written before of the folly of crossing into the U.S. with an electronic device.

That warning also applies to New Zealand:

Visitors to New Zealand can be fined 5,000 New Zealand dollars ($3,243) for refusing to provide passwords to unlock electronic devices and allow customs officials to examine them under a new law

Before you travel, get a burner phone and cross borders with it wiped clean.

Trump Has All County Building Supply Providing Drums of Whitewash for Kavanaugh

It's becoming clear that the White House has so limited the FBI's background check of Kavanaugh that it's become nothing but a coverup. People with credible stories aren't being heard. Identified witnesses are not being interviewed.

Trump and the GOP are whitewashing a turd.

Trump's Emergency Text

From here

I wonder how many thousands of people in places where one cannot have a phone at work lost their jobs today.

Anyway, you can shut off government alerts by going to "notifications" in an iphone, scrolling to the bottom and shutting off that shit.

But you may not want to:

The U.S. ambassador to NATO set off alarm bells Tuesday when she suggested that the United States might “take out” Russian missiles that U.S. officials say violate a landmark arms control treaty.

Although Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison’s comments were somewhat ambiguous, arms control experts said they could be interpreted to mean a preemptive strike. Such a move could lead to nuclear war.

If Republicans Were Any More Gutless, They Would be Pooping Out Undigested Food

President* Donald Trump is facing criticism from fellow Republicans after he mocked a woman who says she was assaulted by his Supreme Court nominee.

Senators Jeff Flake and Susan Collins, both key votes to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, spoke out a day after Mr Trump's remarks at a Mississippi rally.

Mr Flake called the president's comments "appalling", and Ms Collins said they were "just plain wrong".

Trump is like an undisciplined toddler with a crayon and a white wall: Until the toddler learns that there are nasty consequences, the kid'll keep drawing on the wall.

Oh, those Senators and other Republicans deplore Trump's actions, they really do (or so they say), but they never do a fucking thing about it.

When it comes to Trump, this is the mascot for the rest of the GOP:

Faced with Trump, Republicans are gutless, spineless and gonad-less. The last Republican politician with the courage to oppose Trump went into the ground a month ago.

Republicans should all get the same Christmas presents that I once said should be given to Harry Reid.

No Need to Destroy Your Cell Phone

Donald Trump is sending Americans a text today. It's only a test.

The Petty Homophobia of Dolt-45

This is a dick move:

The Trump administration will no longer issue family visas to same-sex domestic partners of foreign diplomats or employees of international organizations who work in the United States, State Department officials said on Tuesday.

It's a move that panders to the gay-hating Christian Taliban in Trump's ever-shrinking base.

And that, Dear Reader, is all that it is. Trump would sell his daughter into a North African brothel for the right price; of that I have no doubt.

Trump the Tax Fraudster

President* Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the fortune he received from his parents, an investigation by The New York Times has found.

Mr. Trump won the presidency proclaiming himself a self-made billionaire, and he has long insisted that his father, the legendary New York City builder Fred C. Trump, provided almost no financial help.

But The Times’s investigation, based on a vast trove of confidential tax returns and financial records, reveals that Mr. Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day.

Much of this money came to Mr. Trump because he helped his parents dodge taxes. He and his siblings set up a sham corporation to disguise millions of dollars in gifts from their parents, records and interviews show. Records indicate that Mr. Trump helped his father take improper tax deductions worth millions more. He also helped formulate a strategy to undervalue his parents’ real estate holdings by hundreds of millions of dollars on tax returns, sharply reducing the tax bill when those properties were transferred to him and his siblings.

Trump and his family have apparently committed tax fraud, in that they evaded paying over $500 million in taxes because of the Trumps' schemes.

This may be part of the reason why Trump's refusing to release his tax returns. He couldn't be prosecuted, but all of the Trumps involved could be civilly sued for the unpaid taxes.

Trump is nothing more than a crook, a con man who has been peddling a lie that he's a self-made billionaire. But he's nothing of the sort. He's a fraud who has dumped tens of millions of Americans; a lot of whom contine to deny they've been duped.

Talkies Report

A Simple Favor did not suck. Since it's a suspense movie, I'm sort of restrained in talking about it.

White Boy Rick did suck, but a friend whom I saw it with liked it. Other than "only a certified fool would take the word of an FBI agent", I'll b damned if I could gather a point from the movie. It moved at a glacial pace and was about as interesting.

Bangity

It was "Smith Day" yesterday at the range for me and a good friend.

Magnum loads were fed to the Model 27, a mixture of magnums and Specials to the 686. .38s to the rest.

I should have taken a couple of autoloaders, as cleaning nearly two-dozen chambers is not a lot of fun.

Backgrounding Kavanaugh

There are reports that the White House has told the FBI to limit the people that they interviewed to Ford, Ramirez and Mark Judge. Maybe under pressure, Trump has allowed the FBI to interview everyone they may want to talk to.

So I don't know where this is going to go. On the other hand, Trump says that he's keeping an open mind. Which I'm pretty confident is a fucking lie.

I guess that getting on the Supreme Court is diferent. For in most job interviews I've ever heard of or sat in (from either side of the table), if the interview gets into discussing how much the applicant drank or whether or not the applicant sexually assaulted people, that interviewee was pretty much toast.