Wonder Woman

It does not suck.

It could have been shortened, a little, but it was still a fine movie.

"Airport Security is Not a Joking Matter."

But there should be an exception when the public address system is labeled "IED".

Shorter Kellyanne Conway: "Trump Doesn't Speak for His Administration."

Criticism directed at President Donald Trump over his flurry of Twitter activity related to the London terrorist attack over the weekend is misguided, counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said Monday morning, the result of a press that she suggested is eagerly critical of Trump even amid more pressing situations.

The media, Conway said, has “this obsession with covering everything he says on Twitter and very little of what he does as president.” Conway blamed that obsession for the uproar that began over the weekend when Trump hurled a political attack across the Atlantic, writing online that there had been “at least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’"

Trump is the fucking President and what he says matters. What any president says matters.

So what Conway is, in essence, claiming, is that Trump doesn't speak for his own administration. Or that he's insane, for why otherwise would he attack his own administration for defending hi2 own policies or is criticize executive orders that he issued?

The End of the Beginning + 75 Years

Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Midway. The battle marked the turning point of the war against Japan. The Japanese sent a large force to invade Midway Island, spearheaded by four carriers. The US Navy had three carriers and, thanks to the Navy's code breakers, some knowledge of what the Japanese plan was.

The Japanese carriers launched strikes against the island, only to be found and attacked.


USN divebombers badly damaged three of the carriers on the morning of June 4th. All three were out of the fight, they were all abandoned and scuttled.



The fourth Japanese carrier struck back. Her planes badly damaged the USS Yorktown, which was later sunk by a Japanese submarine while under tow. This photo shows the Yorktown under attack.


The fourth Japanese carrier was sunk that afternoon.

Turning points to a war are only apparent long after they happen. At this point, the US and her allies in the Pacific had been at war with Japan for six months, the war would continue on for three more years.

The person who saw this most clearly, though, was Admiral Yamamoto, who, in 1940, was quoted as saying this about the prospect of a general war in the Pacific: "In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success."

He was right and he was proven to be so 75 years ago.

(Longtime readers might recognize this one.)

There is a press report about the leak that ran in the Chicago Tribune. The officer who inadvertently leaked it, the reporter who reported on it and the publisher, Robert McCormick of the Chicago Tribune, were lucky that they weren't all shot. What was astonishing was that no quasi-neutral country's diplomatic staff in Washington, such as Switzerland, didn't see the newspaper story and pass it along to the Germans, who would have, in turn, informed Japan.

If you pass through KMDW, be sure and spend a few minutes at the hallway to Concourse A:

There is a display by the windows which succinctly explains the battle, the time leading up to it and the aftermath.

VPN

Opera now offers VPN, so I wanted to see what the speed penalty was.

For Opera, via its VPN: Ping- 156 ms, Download speed- 19.18 Mbps, Upload speed- 6.08 Mbps.

Firefox, no VPN: Ping- 16 ms, Download speed- 20.68 Mbps, Upload speed- 6.00 Mbps.

I gather than using a VPN means that your ISP can't see what you're doing, which now that net privacy has been gutted by the Republicans (Motto: "Since 1921--Fucking You for Fun and Profit"), might be of some concern.

Also, as Trump stumbles down the road to an authoritarian state, you might want to keep your shit more private.

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

QANTAS A-380:

Good Luck With That

But to Trump, there is no such thing as "truth". There is only the leakage from his addled mind, which places no stock in such things as "facts" or "science".

Two clear digs at Trump and his handler:

Caturday

This poor kitten was found in a box that had been bungee'd to the front gate of an animal shelter:

The kitten is young, maybe six weeks old, weights about a pound, had some puncture wounds (including the very visible one to the head) and was spiking a slight fever.

(You can help or go to the non-FB/cobweb site.)

Steam Extra

Union Pacific's steam update:

Because It's Friday

Steam-turbine-electric locomotives:

Basically, they worked sort of like diesels, in that the prime movers powered a generator which then fed power to the driving wheels in the engine's trucks. They were interesting and fast.

But even if they could have competed with diesels, they came along at the wrong time. Railroads needed proven locomotives to haul wartime trains, which meant diesels if they could be gotten, conventional steam if they couldn't. Even if GE wanted to pursue the technology, the plants that would have made the turbines were likely backlogged with building steam turbines for naval warships.

GE scrapped the locomotives before the war ended. GE would became one of the two primary manufacturers of diesel locomotives in North America.

Shorter Trump: "I Stand With Syria and Nicaragua!"

President *Trump and Shadow-President Bannon are moving along on their goal to make the United States the largest rogue nation on the planet. Trump's remarks boil down to "fuck the future, what has it ever done for me?"

And that is all.

And Yet, Neither Pharma Sis, Nor Anyone Else, Is Going to Jail

The makers of the lifesaving EpiPen device may have overcharged American taxpayers by as much as $1.27 billion over ten years, a U.S. senator said Wednesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced the discrepancy in a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley, claiming that the drugmaker may have conned taxpayers out of more than $1 billion by misclassifying EpiPen as a generic, rather than a brand-name drug.

Because if you're a large pharmaceutical company, bilking everyone is part of your business model.

A very safe prediction: Nobody will even be charged with anything. Mylan will cough up some more dough, nobody will admit to doing anything wrong, and they'll all go back to the business of trying to swindle the taxpayers and consumers.

By the way: Pharma Bro is going to trial this month and there's even a musical.

Fussing with NATO

As you may know, President* Trump refused to commit to upholding Article 5 of the NATO Treaty.

The Germans have concluded that America cannot be trusted to honor its agreements.

That is probably realistic. Trump is a businessman and, as anyone who has paid even passing attention to his business career knows, Trump's word is worth less than a dollop of spit on a hot sidewalk.

NATO had two goals, one stated, one not. The stated one was to keep the Russians at bay. The second one was to keep Germany underfoot, at least militarily. In both regards, it has functioned well for nearly sixty years.

Trump's refusal to endorse Article 5 is in the interests of what nation? Certainly not in the interests of the European members of NATO, for it calls into question whether or not the United States will defend them in time of war. It doesn't enhance the cause of international stability. "Stable" is something that Trump is not. He's never run his businesses that way. But in the international arena, stability is key. Instability can and has led to war, and only a fool would try to set the stage for a major conflagration in Europe.

Calling into question American resolve to defend its friends and interests, even if by omission, may have been one of the causes of the Korean War. Anyone with a knowledge of history would be aware of that. Which is, likely, not something that anyone will ever say about Trump.

Who benefits? Russia, of course. By hinting to their neighbors, whether they are in NATO or not, that the Americans cannot be trusted, Russia would gain a measure of control and influence over the countries that they regard as their "near abroad," without the bother and expense of actually having to occupy them.

It's happened before. Having an American president who can make it possible for the Russians to do that to their neighbors has to be one of Putin's wet dreams. Which Trump is going to try and make happen. If Trump can do that, then Putin's investment in Trump will have been well worth it.

Discrimination is Expensive

The township will allow the construction of a mosque in a Liberty Corner neighborhood as part of a settlement agreement signed Tuesday.

The settlement ends two federal religious discrimination lawsuits, one from the Justice Department and the other by the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, filed against the township after it denied a plan to build the mosque.

Of course, this sort of thing isn't unique to Muslims. Congress keeps passing laws to ensure that localities don't discriminate against religious land uses. But then the "good people" soon find out that the law also applies to religions that they don't care for: Sikhs, Hasidic Jews and Muslims.

What that township in NJ is likely to find is that their D&O; policy will either be canceled or their premiums will skyrocket. They'll probably won't have much luck finding another insurance underwriter, either.

Opiods

A long piece about Martinsburg, WV.

Trump's Hiring Problems

President* Trump faces serious challenges in restructuring a White House, from getting experienced Washington hands to work for him to whether his own premium for loyalty will block otherwise qualified candidates from working for him.

Republicans say the problems mean that Trump, an outsider who basically took over his party and is still viewed with suspicion in establishment circles, will face even more trouble in trying to refashion his team.

“The talent pool is shrinking, because who wants to sign up for crazy?” said Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).

There are two things, really.

First off, Trump isn't going to trust anyone associated with the GOP establishment, the core of the "Never Trumpers". It's those people whom a normal GOP president would call upon to fill the positions that Trump hasn't filled. Trump's handling of the political-appointee slots has bordered on the irrational, anyway.

Second, who wants to have on their résumé that they worked for a president who was a Russian operative? That sort of stench doesn't wash off. At this point, it's going to be hard to pull a Schultz and claim that they didn't know about it. And it get even harder as time goes on and the stories keep piling up.

Asswipe Has a Point

A man charged with fatally stabbing two men and injuring a third who tried to shield young women from an anti-Muslim tirade appeared to brag about the attacks as he sat in the back of a police patrol car, saying "that's what liberalism gets you," according to court documents.

The probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday offers the most complete official account to date of the events that unfolded Friday on a light-rail car packed with commuters eager to get home for the Memorial Day weekend.

[The Asswipe of Portland], the man arrested in the stabbings, shouted "You call it terrorism! I call it patriotism!" and "Death to the enemies of America!" as he made his first appearance in the case Tuesday. [Asswipe], 35, did not enter a plea and has another court date June 7.

Funny how now some asswipe on the far-Right is basically using the saying that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

But it is true, nonetheless, that it matters which side you are on. And whether or not it's your side that prevailed.

We've Seen This Movie Before; Sturmabteilung Ed.

A top Oregon Republican said Monday he’s considering using militia groups for security purposes after a man directing anti-Muslim rhetoric at two women fatally stabbed two men and injured a third this weekend.

Multnomah County Republican Party Chairman James Buchal told The Guardian that recent protests have prompted members of the Portland GOP to consider security alternatives.

“I am sort of evolving to the point where I think that it is appropriate for Republicans to continue to go out there,” he told The Guardian. “And if they need to have a security force protecting them, that’s an appropriate thing too.”

He said that might mean making arrangements that don’t rely on police.

“There are these people arising, like the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters,” he added. “We’re thinking about that. Because there are now belligerent, unstable people who are convinced that Republicans are like Nazis.”

Right, a far-right asswipe verbally abuses some Muslims and then shivs three people who arise to confront said asswipe and somehow, that translates into a threat against Republicans? That is some pretty fucked-up logic.

More to the point, what major political parties have had their own militia to provide "security"? The leader in that regard was the German NSDAP, aka the Nazis.

So here's a free tip to Mr. Buchal: One of the best ways to avoid having people compare your party to Nazis is to not act like Nazis.

Doofus Move

One of Trump's lawyers was asked by Senate Intelligence Committee investigators to provide information that he had about his own contacts with Russian officials. The lawyer, in essence, told them to go screw themselves.

So now the Committee has, unanimously, authorized both its chairman and the ranking Democrat to issue subpoenas as they see fit. Up until this point, subpoenas apparently had to be authorized by the Committee. Now they have a nice stack of pre-signed ones to use.

I know that Trump likes to play legal hardball. But he's in a different league, now, and he doesn't seem to know that.

Trump vs. Muslims: Diplomatic Amateur Hour Continues

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has declined a request to host an event to mark Islam's holy month of Ramadan, two U.S. officials said, apparently breaking with a bipartisan tradition in place with few exceptions for nearly 20 years.

Since 1999, Republican and Democratic secretaries of state have nearly always hosted either an iftar dinner to break the day's fast during Ramadan or a reception marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the month, at the State Department.

Tillerson turned down a request from the State Department's Office of Religion and Global Affairs to host an Eid al-Fitr reception as part of Ramadan celebrations, said two U.S. officials who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

I take that back. It's an insult to amateurs to use that word to describe Trumps foreign policy. "Criminally inept," maybe?

This sort of stuff matters, for it sends a useful signal. George W. Bush may have been disengaged, at times, but he had pros in his state department who understood such things. Clearly Tillerson doesn't get it. Or he doesn't give a shit.

This stuff isn't quantum physics. But clearly it's beyond the grasp of the Trumpanzees who are making a shambolic attempt to run the Federal government.

No, This is Not Art. It's an Obscenity.

The photographer behind the grisly photo of Kathy Griffin raising a blood-splattered replica of President Trump's detached head has defended the controversial image as "art."

No, I am not posting the photo. Go look at that article or this one.

That's fucking disgusting.

It's not art.

It's not satire.

Or irony.

It's an obscenity.

If there is any justice in this world, that so-called photographer will change his name and then end up trying to sell family portrait sessions at a discount store in Yuma.[1] And Kathy Griffith, well, hopefully her next show wouldn't fill a coffeeshop.

UPDATE: Griffith has apologized, says she went "too far". No fucking shit.
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[1] I'm not naming the photographer. His name should only be a curse word amongst civilized peoples.

This Idea Will Probably Spread

Convicted paedophiles would be denied passports in Australia under a "world-first" plan proposed by the government.

The proposal, to be introduced to parliament, would prohibit registered sex offenders from travelling overseas.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan said it would affect about 20,000 offenders who had completed punishments but remained under monitoring by authorities.

Sex offenders would be able to apply for passports if they were no longer on the register, the government said.

Without looking at the law, RSOs encompass more than just pedophiles. Post-convction and post-probation crackdowns are happening here, as well.

Some of the arguments against all of this may be legit. But then again, as a class of criminals, pedophiles are probably about as bad as it gets.[1] Standing up for the rights is a pretty hard sell to have to make. I can't think of too many people who are going to brag about that in their advertising.
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[1] I can't be the only one who wonders about those guys driving ice-cream trucks.

Chicago Typewriters For Sale

If you want one, contact Midwest Distributors. They are in the process of purchasing 27 Thompsons from the St. Louis Police Dept.

The guns will be pricey. The department is getting $22K apiece. The article mentions that some of the guns are rather rare. Also, they've been sitting in an armory for over sixty years.

Memorial Day

I realize that today isn't the legal Memorial Day, but it once was (and it should be again). And so, with no further ado:

This is the commemorative stone and the grave of Jacob Russell, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. He served in the Connecticut Militia in 1775 and later moved to what was then Warrensville Township and is now Shaker Heights, Ohio:

When the original South Park Cemetery was relocated in 1909, Mr. Russell's grave was left undisturbed. If you were to go for a walk around the Shaker Lakes, you'll find his grave to the west of the south side of Horseshoe Lake.

What Mr. Russell did during the war has been lost to history. He served for five months. His rank is not known. Whether he was wounded or injured and invalided out or served his enlistment or just walked away is lost to time. There is even dispute as to whether he was born in Windsor, CT or Kingston, NY. There is dispute as to when he moved to Ohio.

But he served his country before it was officially a country.

This day exists to remember Mr. Jacobs and all others who have served in this country's armed forces and whom are no longer with us. It was originally called Decoration Day, a day to put flags and other tokens of remembrance on the graves of veterans. In short, this isn't the day to go around thanking living veterans for their service. You can do that on any other day.

This day is to remember those who have passed.