archer

Yeah but I don't think it'd make much impact until after the 2024 primaries. And by then, this RNC decision might well be reversed.

Well, the Russians depopulated Crimea of potential opponents after they took over. For example, the Soviets shipped Crimean Tartars to Siberia in order to help keep control and because they're racially prejudiced. When the USSR broke up, Russia allowed a lot of those Tartars and their descendants the opportunity to move back to Crimea, which happened. When Russia reconquered Crimea in 2014, they sent most of those Tartars and their families back to Siberia and moved in loyal ethnic Russians to replace them. ==== Georgia's a little different. They're scrappy and have been training with NATO forces for years. But they haven't been able to put much money into their armed forces because their economy isn't big. For example, they have 10 Soviet-era fighter aircraft and some helicopters. And that's the sum total of their air forces. If the Russians wanted to obliterate them from the air, they could. That puts a damper on their enthusiasm to go after the Russian-backed separatist forces occupying part of their country, wipe them out, and reclaim all of their country. Maybe the Russians would let them get away with it since they're otherwise occupied. But Georgia has been angling hard to get NATO membership. If they got really hot and heavy with Russian-backed forces at a time that Russia is willing to fight, that'd cause some of the NATO countries to "get the vapors" and "swoon" over how uncouth Georgia is being.

The main reason they're withdrawing is that they think Trump will be the nominee again if he wants it and he can't debate. If they leave the possibility of debates open and he's opposed in the primaries, the other candidates would be idiots if they didn't use "he can't debate" against him, especially since he's even less rational now than in 2016. So Trump would end up winning the nomination but be damaged...then look like he's chicken because he refuses to debate in the general election. The RNC is sidestepping the whole thing by trying to get all the potential nominees to sign a pledge to not participate in presidential commission debates...and rigging the nomination process in the various states so that only candidates who signed the pledge will be eligible to be listed on the ballot during the primaries as a presidential candidate. If Trump decides to not run, or runs and loses the primaries, I'd expect the RNC to do an about-face and require their nominee to debate. And honestly, there's not any of them potentially running (except Trump) who don't think they could absolutely destroy Biden in a debate (whether that's true or not is another matter). That was never Biden's strong suit even back to his first run for president in 1988. He plagiarized material from other politicians during his extemporaneous speaking, exaggerated his own accomplishments (such as the number of college degrees he'd earned and that he'd marched in the civil rights movement when he hadn't), and was forced to withdraw his candidacy. And he's definitely lost a step in his spontaneous responses since then. Everyone on the Republican side except for Trump is eager to get Biden as a debate opponent.

That ship performed with distinction in the invasion of Georgia in 2008, the invasion of the Crimea in 2014, and now in the invasion of Ukraine. So it's being promoted from missile cruiser to submarine.

After the first plane hit and supers were on the scene, it'd be highly unlikely that the second plane could have hit in the same place. So the second group of terrorists would have been foiled in some manner or the terrorists would have realized the problem in advance and have chosen a different target.

Picard's mistake was telling his crew, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!"

Myotonic Dystrophy is a form of muscular dystrophy. Tachycardia is an abnormally rapid heartbeat. Since they specify that it's only in a portion of his heart rather than the whole thing, it sounds like his heartbeat between the upper chambers and lower weren't in synch. If that's what was happening, it'd cause additional weakness beyond the dystrophy. And perhaps blood continually backing up in his system because it's not getting into and out of the heart properly.

About time. I don't think we discussed it here but Washington DC had it's Gridiron Dinner for 630 journalists and politicians about 12 days ago. The 80+ attendees who've came down with COVID from the superspreader event so far include Attorney General Merrick Garland, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Sen. Susan Collins, Rep. Adam Schif (the chairman of the Intelligence Committee), Rep. Joaquin Castro, Rep. Elaine Luria, Jamal Simmons (Vice President Kamala Harris' communications director), Michael LaRosa (first lady Jill Biden’s press secretary), NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and Valerie Biden Owens, the president’s sister. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser tested positive after spending time with people who attended the event.

The Maulers seem a little darthy for my tastes.

Batman and Robert Conrad

If you earn 40 points from one adventure, that'd buy you 13 different skills....

Many, many people outside of the Barren Desert Province.

What song did Ani sing during his musical? "The Suns Will Come Out Tomorrow"

Why didn't Darth Vader date Mara Jade? She was young enough to be his daughter-in-law.

Jabba the Hut has one item of clothing. What is it? He has a Bib for Tuna.

What drink would the Force ghost of Obi Won's master most likely offer you? A Qui-Gon Gin and Tonic.

I think you cheated by living in the fallout pattern from Mount St. Helens.

I've regretted not trying to get on with the CIA after graduating college. They let the campus know they were interested in our graduates but didn't bother sending a recruiter to campus. To interview, you had to scrape up the money yourself for the trip to Virginia. Might I ask what made you lose interest?

Finland and Sweden look poised to join NATO as early as the summer (despite Russian threats against both countries if they do join and the recent nuclear-armed aircraft Russia sent into Swedish airspace). https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-04-10/finland-sweden-set-to-join-nato-as-soon-as-summer-the-times

Would that be Logan's Run?

One time when taking a polygraph, I flunked the calibration question when they asked me, "Are you fill-in-the-blank years old?"

How are we still fighting Nazis?

I like reading the winners list to see if I've even heard of any of the movies. My wife like rom-coms and I like sci-fi and fantasy...and those are two of the three least likely categories to win a major award.

I thought that Sex in the City was the definitive Star Trek prequel.

He could have been a specialist in blocking field goals and extra points. That'd have to radically alter any opposing team's game plan.