"All the news that's fun to print."

I surprised myself last week, getting a Tuesday post out while on vacation to Southern Oregon.  I guess visiting family isn't as much of a time-sump as I thought it would be.  That can be good or bad I suppose- good in that I had time to relax and gather my thoughts into a post, but bad that I wasn't doing more exciting stuff like in the picture above.

The Rogue River runs through the city of Grants Pass on its way to the Pacific Ocean in Gold Beach.  It's a beautiful part of the country, (mostly) green mountainous landscapes, pine trees all over, wildlife everywhere, including in front of my car.  Fortunately for both my front end and the two deer I almost collided with, my brakes were good enough to ensure the wildlife stayed beautiful.  We usually go rafting on the Rogue, but the trip was a quick one and time was short, with school starting up again yesterday.  The drive is a pain though- too close and too expensive to fly, but also too far away to make it an easy day of it.  It's 838 miles door to door, which is tough to do in one day by myself, and the finish line is so close when I do wind up getting too tired to continue.

Sure, I've got two other drivers in the car, but the teenangster is still under a learners permit and drives far too slow for my taste, and my wife can't keep a steady pace so the speedometer is constantly fluctuating 5-10 mph in either direction which drives me nuts.  They're usually asleep anyway by the time I get tired so I'm pretty much the only control freak driver I can stand available.

If you do the math, the required distance should take between 10 and 11.5 hours depending on what speed limit one chooses to follow- the legal one, or the Californian one.   That doesn't include stops of course, but if you ensure that you eat, refuel and offload any beverages at the same time, you can make the trip in 13.5 hours like I did.  Don't tell the CHP please, or better yet, don't tell the FAA.

While I was up there, I completely ignored politics and the news, unless it had to do with Oregon fires, or whatever headlines my friends my have posted on Facebook.  So for today, I'm going to share what I saw, read, or found humorous as it relates to current events after I returned.

The GOOD:

I'm sure you heard about the three Americans that thwarted a terrorist attack on a French train.  While the Corps was beaming with pride of the report that it was three Marines, the adage that the first version of a story is always wrong was proven yet again.  As it turns out, it was an Oregon National Guardsman, An Airforce Senior Airman, and a civilian.  That made my brother snicker as he's an Oregon National Guardsman himself who thinks that the Marines aren't any better than the Army, but they're just blessed with better PR.

One of the heroes was injured in the act of subduing the terrorist.  While it was actually due to a box cutter, the first reports had him listed as being shot during the take-down.  And twitter was exceptionally funny while documenting it.

Did you see that the Little League World Series was underway?  For the second time in three years, a team from San Diego made it to Williamsport PA.  So those of us on the left coast have more than just a passing interest.

#NBC7 San Diego ‏@nbcsandiego  Aug 21

#SVLL tied #LLWS record for most homeruns in one inning per @ESPN #NBC7SportsWrap

It's been removed from Twitter, but LA Angels All-Star Mark Trout even commented that these kids were putting on a home run derby.  After beating Kentucky 14-2, they lost their next game 8-4 to a team from Texas, but rallied yesterday to beat New England 10-3 to stay alive in the double-elimination tourney.

There's a great video here that shows what Little League is all about.

The BAD:

Source

Texas Police Captain Linked to Ashley Madison Leak Commits Suicide

I suppose that if you want to remain anonymous while cheating on your wife, Ashley Madison is a way to do it.  Minus the anonymous part though.  The site was hacked and names of clients are coming out fast.  This cop was no exception, but he wound up taking his own life vice face the humiliation and embarrassment from the exposure.

Of course I don't condone infidelity, or hacking for that matter, even if it gets some cheaters on the straight and narrow.  But I will also say that if you're doing something wrong, and keeping it secret is more important than your life- that you'd rather die instead of having your secret be known, rethink what you're doing in the first place.  Suicide is not an answer because it doesn't solve anything- it only ends everything.

Source

The American M5 were battle-tested killing machines during WWII, in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, France (Normandy and Provence campaigns in the summer of 1944), and Germany.  They also served in the Pacific after being replaced in Europe by newer tanks.

Well, apparently they're still deadly:

World War II-Era Tank Runs Over, Kills Man In Fairfield

California Highway Patrol says 55-year-old Kevin Wright of Suisun City was riding on the front edge of a 1944 M-5 tank at a reunion when the vehicle started going downhill. Wright fell off and was run over.  Source

I really enjoyed the movie FURY, but I never thought that it would be fun to re-enact scenes from it.

The UGLY:

Another couple of videos detailing the horrors inside Planned Parenthood Clinics were released, including one that pretty much confirms that PP is trafficking in fully intact baby cadavers, possibly born alive, then killed.  The videos have proven that certain organs are worth different amounts and if PP wants to transfer or sell parts to StemExpress, chemicals can't be used, otherwise the organs would be ruined.  That likely means that babies are being born alive, or so close to alive that a slight tap on the heart starts it beating again.  It's long past time for America to consider for a moment that PP might not be as above reproach that the left wants us to believe.

Source

Speaking of hearts, or the lack thereof, I offer you the following video.  It's along the same lines as those Hitler videos, but this one is only just over 90 seconds and has a wonderfully hilarious punchline regarding Hillary's fashion choices.



That's enough of the news for today.