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Popular vote vs. Constitution...0 for 243 years, so a meaningless statistic. Betting the undead Hillary jumps in again to "save" the country from the far-left that is everybody but Biden (and Gabbard who is being ignored). Only she can "save" us from them and from Trump. And this time, it really is her turn... As LBJ was President by default when he ran for "his" first term in 1964, not sure I'll agree with your characterization. He also realized, like former Senator Flake did, that he had absolutely no chance of winning and didn't want to be embarrassed. Go out on his terms versus being humiliated. Trump by 300+ electoral votes this time especially following any sort of actual impeachment attempt. The great unwashed masses don't like being told, repeatedly, that they are stupid/racist/etc, etc, etc by their "betters" especially if the attempted coup fails. Better make sure you kill the king if you try as the saying goes (not an incitement to violence, but a paraphrasing of an old canard.).

Retired GOFOs are like children; they should be seen and not heard. Unless he/she is willing to step into the political ring and run for office, then hiding behind the "I'm a general and therefore apolitical, thus speak truth to power" is complete bullsh1t.

So I understand Kaepernick wants to drive for F1? I'll show myself out...

Say, why were we in the Middle East to start with? Oh, yeah... And now, our reason for being there trying to stop thousands of years of tribal warfare/slaughtering of each other is...?

I do not ascribe to that concept. What's in our national interest? That's what's important to me. If it matches that of others, great. If not, no biggie. Those "others" have been up under our skirts since WWII (in the West anyway). They did so out their own national interests. And so it will always go.

Nothing has changed since I started this thread in, what 1978? No vital national interest of ours is involved in Syria. Let the savages fight among themselves. As to the Kurds and us writing them off, again, well, there's much truth to be gleaned from "Animal House." Funny though, Barry criticized for declaring a "red line," then doing absolutely nothing which made us look bad. Orange man criticized for declaring we're leaving which makes us look bad. In the end, what's in it for us?

Downton Abbey - took my wife because chicks dig tea parties, chinless wonders, and snobby society b1tches who change clothes 6-7 times a day. Basic premise - King of England coming to visit, so everybody panic, clean everything, speak dramatically of the importance of such a visit, etc. Think of any four-star visit to your base and the wing commander goes into "paint this rock, hide that airman!" mode and you've got it. Pretty harmless waste of 2+ hours except for the obligatory, but completely unnecessary to the story, gay equality scene. In return, I'll gain a date to Ford v Ferrari later this fall and Top Gun 2 whenever it is released.

Thanks!

Yep. Watch/tape 'em all to view as able. Only usually catch final qualifying as the usual suspects are nearly never in the final 10. And for the unaware of the sport, it usually has the hottest chick fans. Big dollars so beauty seems to flock to it. Funny how that is...

What, specifically, is proposed to affect "climate change?" Why/how/how much? https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/3/100304-snowball-earth-ice-global-warming/

Not one, never gonna be one, but curious question: Billy Bob is hired by airline X. Who/how decides what his/her original equipment/domicile will be? I understand that both equipment/seat/domicile can change, but who/how is the initial one set? Not asking for a friend, just mildly curious.

F1 aka The Mercedes/Ferrari demo series... But the cars and technologies are very cool. Would like to see more even competition and/or actual racing rather than the "get a good start" if you've got the pole and drive for two hours to the checkered flag that it is now. New F1 ownership is trying; we'll see if it actually happens.

I think we are largely agreeing. I'm just advocating that those that have a bigger dog in the fight - ready access to ME oil/Straits of Hormuz - should step up and look after their interests since it's no longer one of our top ones. France, Germany, etc., y'all love you some Persians and like sticking it to the US, please, by all means, carry on. We'll watch from our oil-rich sidelines. And I again posit that Iran is throwing this tantrum to get the West to cave to their bad behavior at best, or to strike Iran at worst. Either way, the blame for the very severe economic squeeze we've been tightening successfully since canning the bad Iran/nuke deal will be diverted to the ol' Satan, USA. Sorry, mullahs, you snookered the last nuke dealmaker and scored a financial windfall. Not this time.

Indeed. And as we're selling, thought that was the point. The closure of the Straits is no longer a vital national interest of ours. It still is to others. Their turn to carry the ball. Iran is trying to rattle the world and get the economic vise grips loosened before it all goes south internally. If the West either caves to their behavior (likely) or gets the West to attack Iran (possibly), then the people will rally to the government and all is well again. Just ask Argentina circa 1982...

Say, Europe, Japan, et al, we, the US are net exporters of oil/energy now. Other than the principal of freedom of navigation, the Straits are not nearly as important to us now as they are to you. We'll put a few Patriot batteries in Saudi Arabia, y'all got the rest. If it's important to you, you'll step up. We can be fine "leading from behind" on this one. The economic squeeze we are applying to the Mullahs and all the apparatus that relies on them for their cheap gas, pensions, etc, is working just fine. Sure beats us sending gazillions of dollars to Tehran via clandestine cargo planes any day.

I literally was unaware that the regular season started last Sunday. So after watching the F1 race, seeing the schedule on the Direct TV guide, reminded me, "Where's Kaepernick?" Not gettin' any younger, are you Colin?

Ch(Tr)ump change. Gonna set me up one of them Global Initiatives where governments can donate direct instead of earning it one crew at a time...

Knew it was buzzing some random synapse in the skull:

Not a lawyer and didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. I hope there is some legal remedy for this guy - civil suits to ruin those chicks who did this AND, more importantly, against the GCMCA. I don't know how the latter can be punished; contact his senators and have them apply some "WTF?" pressure to SECAF/CSAF?

"One rule for me, another for thee." Supposedly, DOJ isn't pursuing Comey for this since it's "small potatoes," but going after him for the FISA warrants fiasco. On the other hand, DOJ isn't particularly known for going after it's own...

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. Loooooong movie. Really liked Brad Pitt's character and performance. No skin from Margot Robbie (which is a pity...) Interesting handling of the Manson murders. Unfortunate that Lena Dunham was in it (my keyboard threw up a little typing that...) Vintage Tarantino.

They want younger versions of themselves. The system worked for them, therefore the system must be good. I quote again from The Talking Heads, "Same as it ever was..." The new and improved two-line PRF is a sop so that it looks like "they are doing something." And for the drones at A1, et al, it was a way to get The Man off their collective back and earn themselves one of those coveted strats. This is no different than the switch from the old weighted OERs to the new and improved "meets standard" OPR/PRF, and so on back to 1947. And before that back to the founding of our military officer corps. Largely, who you know along with luck/timing rules and always will. Make informed decisions knowing the rules of the game whether written or not.

To her credit, she gets it: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7301527/Kelly-McGillis-says-old-fat-Gun-sequel-Tom-Cruise.html

Solid, organized, brief. Good job.