Ranxerox

Senator John McCain Dead At Age 81
 
I voted for John McCain in the 2000 presidential primary though George W Bush and Al Gore went on to get their parties' nomination.  I still believe we would have been better served by John McCain as president than either of those 2 gentlemen.  In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama over John McCain, because McCain was no longer the better candidate.  Still, I remember a time at one of his campaign rallies when he mentioned his opponent and the audience started booing and yelling racist things and McCain told them to stop and that his opponent was a good man and he just disagreed with him politically.  His audience was displeased with his statement, but he has my eternal admiration for having the courage and class to make it.
 
Godspeed in this final flight, good sir.

Senator John McCain Dead At Age 81
 
I voted for John McCain in the 2000 presidential primary though George W Bush and Al Gore went on to get their parties' nomination.  I still believe we would have been better served by John McCain as president than either of those 2 gentlemen.  In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama over John McCain, because McCain was no longer the better candidate.  Still, I remember a time at one of his campaign rallies when he mentioned his opponent and the audience started booing and yelling racist things and McCain told them to stop and that his opponent was a good man and he just disagreed with him politically.  His audience was displeased with his statement, but he has my eternal admiration for having the courage and class to make it.
 
Godspeed in this final flight, good sir.

Senator John McCain Dead At Age 81
 
I voted for John McCain in the 2000 presidential primary though George W Bush and Al Gore went on to get their parties' nomination.  I still believe we would have been better served by John McCain as president than either of those 2 gentlemen.  In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama over John McCain, because McCain was no longer the better candidate.  Still, I remember a time at one of his campaign rallies when he mentioned his opponent and the audience started booing and yelling racist things and McCain told them to stop and that his opponent was a good man and he just disagreed with him politically.  His audience was displeased with his statement, but he has my eternal admiration for having the courage and class to make it.
 
Godspeed in this final flight, good sir.

Senator John McCain Dead At Age 81
 
I voted for John McCain in the 2000 presidential primary though George W Bush and Al Gore went on to get their parties' nomination.  I still believe we would have been better served by John McCain as president than either of those 2 gentlemen.  In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama over John McCain, because McCain was no longer the better candidate.  Still, I remember a time at one of his campaign rallies when he mentioned his opponent and the audience started booing and yelling racist things and McCain told them to stop and that his opponent was a good man and he just disagreed with him politically.  His audience was displeased with his statement, but he has my eternal admiration for having the courage and class to make it.
 
Godspeed in this final flight, good sir.

Senator John McCain Dead At Age 81
 
I voted for John McCain in the 2000 presidential primary though George W Bush and Al Gore went on to get their parties' nomination.  I still believe we would have been better served by John McCain as president than either of those 2 gentlemen.  In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama over John McCain, because McCain was no longer the better candidate.  Still, I remember a time at one of his campaign rallies when he mentioned his opponent and the audience started booing and yelling racist things and McCain told them to stop and that his opponent was a good man and he just disagreed with him politically.  His audience was displeased with his statement, but he has my eternal admiration for having the courage and class to make it.
 
Godspeed in this final flight, good sir.

(Stringing you guys along for way too long now. It's NOT intentional)
 
 
I don't know who said no battle plan ever survived contact with the enemy, but we had bypassed that little truth by virtue of barely having a plan at all. It wasn't like we expected the 'good' aliens to have a problem with a cure for cancer enough to attack us after all, and while we had a head's up; it wasn't much time to do more than we had. Stash the goods fight as a team, and hope we remembered our training and code words.
 
The Hyadesians were possibly better prepared than we were. They didn't just try to swarm us with overwhelming numbers, their ambassador at least had studied humans and our media- and that meant he had to have been somewhat acquainted with our powers and abilities. So, the Hyadesian soldiers were forewarned and forearmed. Honest to gosh, their only mistake might have been not turning off their translation devices.
 
"Squadron Blue, Switch weapons to dehydration for Eel and Arctic Fox," One declared, and I noticed one group shift dials at their wrist bands. Well, of course they'd want to dehydrate us. I was aquatic, and without moisture to work with Fox might be at a disadvantage. I mean, I had never been purposefully dehydrated, burned sure, but I imagined the effect would be much the same- or worse.
 
Now , no less than two dozen guys were about to blast Fox and I with it. I was pretty sure I shouldn't stand there and just take it, which , as a fellow blessed with the power of toughness, was often my standard method of operation.
 
Turns out I didn't have to.  A shadowy wall of force formed like a closing curtain at a theatre, taking every oncoming blast with casual ease. Lady Obsidian to the rescue before a rescue was even required. Not content to just defend, she made a push motion and that wall, having done its job, became a wave! The invaders were dressed in gold and white body armor that was deceptively light. That made it hard to guess how much pounding they could take, but Lady O seemed to have a good idea just how much to apply. That wave of solid energy struck Squadron Blue like a line of 18 wheelers smashing through toll gates!
 
Through our coms, our leader's voice declared "Switch to battle chatter folks. Peekaboo in progress" that meant she was pretty sure our coms were being hacked. Which made sense when you realized we were dealing with an advanced alien race. She continued on, "Martin after McGlown- Hustle and Flow. Dash of King in your X if uncertain. Duets are best."
 
Well, that was as clear as day, at least if you were paying attention to her code word updates. Frankly, I missed the Mo-Town reference when first told, which almost got me disowned but I got it now. Orders were to be ready to fill in if someone fell, stay in the general area together but keep it moving as you did and sway a bit with the feel of battle. Oh, and if you didn't know how much a pounding your foe could take, don't go all out first shot. She also recommended everyone pick a team mate to work with.
These were guidelines more than rules. But when someone with that many decades of super battle experience gives you a guideline you don't ignore it. Lady Obsidian could, by now, teach Green Berets classes in small unit tactics. But as superhero team management was pretty much where the very metaphor incarnate for herding kittens, it was best to keep it loose.
 
Arctic Fox and I had worked well together recently, which is why she surprised me when she went off to find another partner after burying a half dozen of those that Lady Obsidian had knocked over under ice. I'd be worried about them 'dehydrating' the ice but I think most were out cold. Ah, no pun intended.
As always, while you try to keep track of your team mates and your foes, and the lay of the land in any battle; most of us only have so many eyes and ears. What I mean is, I'm sure there were whole levels of amazing I was just completely unaware of going on. Hopefully the amazing was being done by us rather than to us.
What did I see as I dodged between ray blasts and closed on our attackers?
 
I caught a glimpse of slime engulfing one Hyadesian and bursting his wrist bands open from within. Disarmament was a good plan, I decided to try something similar for my own tactics.  
 
Lady Obsidian was a beast, as she'd already demonstrated. I think the aliens were baffled. Sure, they had seen Earth media on her, but I think it was still like running into a caveman and discovering the guy had a mecha. While I heard the aliens say something about 'frequency' and scrambling to adjust their weapons, she didn't exactly hold still while they tried. She changed the nature of the terrain almost causally, generating barriers here and there before causing said barriers to explode out ward or just fade at her discretion.  Heck, one bombardment went her way and her force shield took on an almost mirror like hue causing the blasts to reverse and turn back.
 
"Ever wonder if secretly we're all just her sidekicks and she only calls us equals so she doesn't take the blame if things go south?" Tornado commented. He had no trouble closing in on his chosen targets. He closed on two in fact, doing a scissor kick that allowed a foot to each face before flying up leaving the disoriented soldiers to shoot each other.
 
I did not see so much as hear Pogo, even amid the blasting zapping din I could make out "Oh my gosh I'm fighting aliens to defeat cancer and I'm doing it with the new Samaritans! Omygodohymgod!" a thump "Sorry sorry but I have to bet you all up now, I can't look bad in front of the T-E-A-M."
 
Honestly, I've been accused of bantering too much in my fights, but Pogo makes me look like a mute.
 
I didn't see Pinprick. I think he was on the 'other side' of the action.
 
On the plus side, my girlfriend came to my rescue!
 
Okay, rescue is a strong word. I tackled one Hyadesian to the ground, and then smashed his blaster bands or whatever he was calling those things on his wrists by squeezing them. Behind me, another guy shot me dead center in the back of the skull.
 
It didn't so much hurt as disorient. For a moment, the world looked like I was viewing it through a randomly convex then concave lens. Sizes of parts of bodies, my own and others, were completely blown out of perspective with odd glass like circles in my vision adding to the distortion.
 
"Count yourself lucky we value life, Terran" my shooter explained, right before Valarosa ghosted through two different guys to get to me, turned solid, and leg swept him onto his butt.
 
"Right back atcha," She said before putting his lights out with a shot to the jaw. Steel hard fists hurt bad enough, steel hard fists with martial arts training? World of ouch.
"You okay?" She asked.
 
"Yeah," I said, "it's clearing up fast enough, thanks" And I brought my hands down hard on the ground and sent a man-made tremor through the flooring! The Hyadesians didn't expect that, and it was really gratifying to knock them down and about like bowling ball pins.
 
"Strike," I said with satisfaction. That move didn't always work, but I knew the base terrain pretty well. The Hyadesians might well come to regret coming for us on our home turf.
An orb of light landed next to me and exploded. I've been blinded before, but this was bad. Furthermore, judging by the gasp near me, Valarosa had been engulfed as well.
 
"How many of us are played Keller here?" I asked over the comline. It occurred to me that If they had any strategy at all, there would be no reason for them not to try it all around.
Turns out it wasn't just Valarosa and I. While another blast sent me for a loop, I could hear the responses.
 
"As a bat" Tornado cursed.
 
"Yeah, they got me" Pinprick confessed with irritation.
 
"Only a little bit" Fox confessed, then again she might not have been down playing. Perhaps it was to prevent snowblindness, but she had a natural resistance.
 
"I see fine, but I have an idea" Lady Obsidian said "Mabel- Let's save some electricity.  Fox, Flurry hurry, honey."
 
And it got very cold very, fast, and I felt stuff splatter against and shoot past me. Now, as a southern boy, I can't say I've been in many, but we do sometimes get snow in North Carolina, and I realized what was going on. This was a snowstorm, the sort you couldn't drive through because you couldn't see through it well enough to find the road!
"Well, everyone's blind now" I said "Keep it up, even Steven. More chance we'll hurt one of them than each other."
 
Why settle for even odds at all? Doctor Salem's voice broke through, I will share my senses with you.
 
And then there was light.
 
Not sunlight, nor moonlight, and certainly not anything that came out of a bulb, but it was light. Outlines, auras, I realized, like Mayo had spoken of. It was nearly impossible to make out details, but I didn't need the details. I need the them and the us, and the ability to tell the difference.
 
"And the power to smash them with," I said reminded of an old prayer, and grabbed one of the soldiers and threw him into his friends.
"We're gonna win," I grinned.
 
At the time? I thought it was true.
 

Then again, it's refreshing to see a story about a heroic cop.

Those are the posters that I am most inclined to believe look like their avatars.

Wikipedia credits (or discredits) him with killing 8 people.  However, whether the number is 4 or 8, it is worth remembering that many, many, many people have extremely hard lives and face abject poverty and still get through without killing anyone.
 
I have no doubt that Billy had a hard and sad life, but that is true of most murders.  That doesn't erase their crimes and make them decent people.  I wouldn't cast him into the deep pit, but I refuse to romanticize murders.  To do so is an insult to the truly decent people who muddle through hard lives without leaving widows and orphans in there wake.

A gift for Hermit
 
 

Wikipedia credits (or discredits) him with killing 8 people.  However, whether the number is 4 or 8, it is worth remembering that many, many, many people have extremely hard lives and face abject poverty and still get through without killing anyone.
 
I have no doubt that Billy had a hard and sad life, but that is true of most murders.  That doesn't erase their crimes and make them decent people.  I wouldn't cast him into the deep pit, but I refuse to romanticize murders.  To do so is an insult to the truly decent people who muddle through hard lives without leaving widows and orphans in there wake.

Along those lines, here's a thoughtful and dispassionate examination of the psychology and sociology of American "white" identity: American white people really hate being called 'white people'

A gift for Hermit
 
 

A gift for Hermit
 
 

Wikipedia credits (or discredits) him with killing 8 people.  However, whether the number is 4 or 8, it is worth remembering that many, many, many people have extremely hard lives and face abject poverty and still get through without killing anyone.
 
I have no doubt that Billy had a hard and sad life, but that is true of most murders.  That doesn't erase their crimes and make them decent people.  I wouldn't cast him into the deep pit, but I refuse to romanticize murders.  To do so is an insult to the truly decent people who muddle through hard lives without leaving widows and orphans in there wake.

Wikipedia credits (or discredits) him with killing 8 people.  However, whether the number is 4 or 8, it is worth remembering that many, many, many people have extremely hard lives and face abject poverty and still get through without killing anyone.
 
I have no doubt that Billy had a hard and sad life, but that is true of most murders.  That doesn't erase their crimes and make them decent people.  I wouldn't cast him into the deep pit, but I refuse to romanticize murders.  To do so is an insult to the truly decent people who muddle through hard lives without leaving widows and orphans in there wake.

Wikipedia credits (or discredits) him with killing 8 people.  However, whether the number is 4 or 8, it is worth remembering that many, many, many people have extremely hard lives and face abject poverty and still get through without killing anyone.
 
I have no doubt that Billy had a hard and sad life, but that is true of most murders.  That doesn't erase their crimes and make them decent people.  I wouldn't cast him into the deep pit, but I refuse to romanticize murders.  To do so is an insult to the truly decent people who muddle through hard lives without leaving widows and orphans in there wake.

Ebola outbreak in D.R. Congo shut down by vaccine
 
It's supposed to be "open access".

P***** Riot Disrupts World Cup Final 

I think they would have voiced that kind of opposition with any (D) candidate winning. That's just the game. Much as Democrats would have opposed Kasich or any of the others.
 
Granted, most racists comments I see are from right-leaning folks. Still, there is a gulf between "Most racists are conservatives" and "Most conservatives are racists". Much as there is a gulf between
 
After all, Conservative's sure like Tim Scott.

We put up with George W for 8 years, complained but ultimately accepted it.  So apparently this is something that we can do, and have done in the past.
 
Trump is different. 
 
I could write books on why Trump is different than a crappy president like George W, who was very crappy indeed, but I don't think going on and on about Trump's myriad of flaws would do anything beyond cause your friend to entrench further.   So just let your friend know that we have been there and done that, but find Trump to be a horse of a different color.

We put up with George W for 8 years, complained but ultimately accepted it.  So apparently this is something that we can do, and have done in the past.
 
Trump is different. 
 
I could write books on why Trump is different than a crappy president like George W, who was very crappy indeed, but I don't think going on and on about Trump's myriad of flaws would do anything beyond cause your friend to entrench further.   So just let your friend know that we have been there and done that, but find Trump to be a horse of a different color.

Hillary did her level best.  She didn't run a perfect campaign, but nobody ever does.  She won the popular vote, despite interference from a foreign power, and a press that knowingly allowed itself to be a giant mouthpiece for the Kremlin.  Hillary can sleep with a clear conscious.  None of this is her fault.
 
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Oh, McDonald's donates hardly any of their own money to the Ronald McDonald House.  However, that is different than saying that they steal the money from the donation boxes.  The money you put in the donation box will go to the cause, just don't expect any corporate matching funds for your donation.  Neither the corporate office or the franchises give a bleep about the charity.

Hillary did her level best.  She didn't run a perfect campaign, but nobody ever does.  She won the popular vote, despite interference from a foreign power, and a press that knowingly allowed itself to be a giant mouthpiece for the Kremlin.  Hillary can sleep with a clear conscious.  None of this is her fault.
 
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