BamaATL

I think in situations like this, most brands have relaxed the pet policy. Nonetheless, people will not leave, I recall last year, even with the threat of massive storm surge, they still couldn't get people to leave or go to shelters, where pets are definitely welcomed. If I remember correctly, last year the shelters reported at or under 50% usage in most cases. I get that riding it out in a shelter sucks, but they are designed to quite literally save your life, and it's one thing Florida actually has right. Unfortunately, people get scared for their property and stuff, or just plain stubborn; and ultimately this can kill you.

to think they say cocaine is bad for you. pfft.

Well, yeah, but that has shit to do with the weather.

It could be a real shit show, my step sister lives in Nashville, and last time this sort of thing happened much of downtown flooded about 8 feet. That was about 10 years ago or so, but yeah, its was bad.

We've seen it, and we bolted.

So it hasn't rained here pretty much all summer, and now between Helene, and a current storm system, we are apt to get between 8 inches and a foot of rainfall, what could go wrong? Obviously that is nothing compared to what the folks in the panhandle are going to have to deal with, so no real complaints, just gonna be wild.

Part one makes a lot of sense to me. The Ukrainians have consistently shown technical capability, but I think that long from now we will find out there is plenty more to the story, to include covert help on things like guidance, etc. They certainly have missile capability and experience, but the secret sauce is the precision. To me, their internal development, covertly assisted, is a nice work around. Part 2 to me is unlikely. At this point, Russian threats have to ring pretty hollow. To me there are two main parts to this, the first being that 90% of the time they are bluffing, and the 2nd part is why the hell would you trust them anyway? Russia is the king of doing one thing, saying another, and their word is worthless. Part 3, my personal thought isn't that we are scared of them and overly cautious, at least not for the reason that would immediately stand out. Our politicians aren't concerned so much with military consequences, but potential economic ones. I.E. - they are concerned about future business within Russia and losing that capability. This to me is a shit idea, and even worse when you consider that lives are being lost, but I think its real. Basically, what they think is regardless of the outcome, nothing is really going to change in Russia, and there is a push to return to the prior status quo.

Just looks like a couple of avid sportsmen.

Have no fear, after weighing any potential positives, against the many potential negatives, we have elected to go to Japan instead (Remarkably for less money).

Not gonna lie, I initially read that you were born in the Floribama. This lead me to draw many conclusions, none of them of good.

It's always going to be difficult to get people to see not only beyond their own horizon, but all the way to another continent. Even then, for ordinary people that don't read the news daily, or get it from muddled sources, it gets complicated. Basically its tough, and always has been tough, to get normies to understand how things can be bad while still being pretty great here.

Mercury Morris - 77

I don't think on the Presidential side it is at all, but I think we got a real chance and knocking off Rick Scott.

Good news, though I wish I saw more movement in Cobb County (NW of Fulton) surprisish blue in 2020, but odds are even better this go around.

To say that this has been an informative read with a surly slant of humor would be an understatement. My wife and I have both never been on a cruise and we are thinking of trying the Norwegian, with a Haven suite. For those that have done this, did you find it worth it? Also, it sort seems like the cruise industry is entirely modeled on the "old man rip you off" business model; i.e. they aim to get you at every turn. We don't mind paying the extra to be a bit off the radar to the riff raff, but not sure if that is really worth it or not. Neither of us do particularly well in crowds for extended periods, and the idea that we can retreat to more serenity and calm is quite appealing. Additionally, neither of us do particularly well with just lounging around, and neither of us drink (we also don't gamble). With that in mind, are we going to be bored to tears doing this? I've always wanted to visit the Virgin Islands, both British and American, and we think we've found a cruise that does that. I do have some pause because it seems like you just sort of get off the ship, do some random crap, and get right back on, without ever really seeing anything. Does that seem about right? Also, why the fuck would I have a butler, which apparently comes with this? In my mind I keep thinking I'm just gonna have some weirdo hanging out in my room for no apparent reason. I'm gonna have a hard enough time trying to convince my wife not to try to find a vacuum (she finds cleaning comforting). The industry is confusing and irritating as fuck, you will find "all inclusive" pricing, but every turn there are stipulations and exclusions, basically a bunch of marketing nonsense to get you on the ship and then just constantly hit you up for more and more. I'm guessing I have that part right. So budget for time and a half the final "price"?

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

eh, she's dead.

I can agree with much of this, but with a caveat, right now, we have Russia, who without the financial ability to do what they are doing, wouldn't have the means to wage war, at least certainly not on this scale. It isn't that they are good having resources or even using them (I'm sure the oil and gas folks here can attest to that), it's that they happen to have it. As a result, they've bought global influence, financed weaponry, and now are engaged in an awful pointless and cruel war. If we weren't (and I mean we as a global we) unwittingly financing this for the past 30 plus years, quite frankly they wouldn't have the means, even if they had the will to do so. Was any of this done during that time period with the world as complicit partners in all this, no, not at all. However, when you spend like we have (again, the global we), rather than invest in internal options and alternatives, you find yourself potentially at the whim of someone like Putin. Competing for resources is always a thing, and there isn't anything to suggest that we are anywhere near the end of that. However, having huge imbalances is what has lead us inexorably here, especially when there have always been alternatives available to us. It's going to take a long time to undo what has been done, no doubt about it. If there is one thing I hope that is learned out of this entire mess, it's that if we ever see such a drastic imbalance (say for example Europe vs Russia in energy, I look at the US differently, because we are energy independent, and have been for a while) we need to recognize collectively that it's a recipe for trouble.

We can look at the history of Russia and point to all the bad it entails, which is all true, but we also have consider the here and now, as well the future; which is ultimately in the hands of the global community. As it currently exists, Russia really isn't good at anything beyond exporting energy and to a much lesser extant raw materials. Truth be told, they are completely dependent on the energy needs of the world in order for their current system to even work as badly as it does. Without break thrus and investment in energy alternatives, we will continue to be at the peril of regimes like Russia, Venezuela, and many different bad actors in the Middle East (who are also overly dependent upon energy exportation), At the end of the day, energy independence isn't just critical for the United States, to be honest, it's critical for all the world's nations, as it provides a layer of stability and prevents bad actors to having access to as much wealth as they do now. Whether each of us like it or not, whenever each of us fills up at the pump, or heats our houses, etc, we are all helping to prop up these sorts of regimes. None of us would choose to do this, but at current, there aren't enough practical options available for us to choose not only on our own, but also collectively. You can add in the need for all this in an overall climate perspective, but I actually think the more pressing issue at the moment is to limit these sorts of bad actors from a seemingly unlimited piggy bank. That isn't to say that the climate aspect of this isn't critical, it is to me, but right now that seems like sauce for the goose. I do believe we are making headway on all this, and as it ultimately relates to the Russian people, the reality is, no matter the outcome of this conflict, the days of this model of "government" are numbered because eventually, like many other countries, they will find themselves without a chair when the music stops (relax Oil and Gas folks, it won't stop entirely, but change and slow).

A drone version of a wild weasel.

I'm not chased by porn, though I do have concepts of it.

If either are involved and deleted their twitter as some sort of level of protection, well, quite frankly they are the dumbest people alive. 1st, there is no real deletion of previous tweets when it comes down to it, the authorities will get a hold of it, 2nd that would potentially be a crime in and of itself. There is obviously a good bit of hysteria about all this, just like Epstein had, but the reality is, until all this shakes out and people are charged, etc, the speculation of someone doing something on twitter as being evidence of anything is as dangerous as it is pointless.

Well, that and pirates and puritans and a bunch of other people that created a series of oddball agreements and contradictions.

Interesting where this happened, Five Points area in Birmingham, is (or at least was, it's been a while since I've been there) a hip and trendy night life area, generally it has young people partying shenanigans, but nothing like this.

They are investigating this as some sort of hit on an individual target. That having been said, the shooters sure as hell didn't care about any collateral damage.