Giant slayers! Two years in a row!

Note the Demon Division look....

East Carolina 70, yes, 70!, University of North Carolina 41.....

For the second year in a row, East Carolina took out the vaunted UNC Tarheels!

It was a wild score and the defense was a little leaky, but if you win, all is well!

East Carolina came out in all black, looking a lot like the Demon Division from HeavenSteel and Aries Marching and did a number on UNC.  The Tarheels did lead briefly 13-7, but that did not last long. 

Never, never back down!  The problems are never as formidable as they seem at first glance!

Thus endth the sermon.

Now, GO FORTH AND CONQUER!

Back into battle...In Iraq

You cannot really blame Obama. What is he supposed to do? Let Iraq collapse?  Return 100,000 US troops to the Middle East?

It appears that the United States has opted for a middle route, using air strikes while prodding the Iraqi military to fight and stop running.

This has a South Vietnam sort of vibe to it with the Iraqi army playing the role of ARVN.

We can't do it for them. The Iraqis have to stand and fight.  It may be that Iraq was an artificial creation doomed to fail but the US has poured too much blood and treasure to just let it fall at one blow.  Cutting our losses might be a wise option but it just seems wrong to turn and run without trying to do something.

Hence, airstrikes.

I am not sure how stable the Islamic State is.  They seem to be trying to fight everyone--Iraq, Syria, the Kurds--and that is usually a recipe for disaster. Time will tell and soon someone else will be fighting over the same ground.

Again....

Welcome to the Middle East.

Opening Day 2014!

"I need to go to the bathroom---QUICK!"

The Steelers open the 2014 season the same way they ended the 2013 season--at home against the Browns. Hopefully they open this year like they ended last year--with a win!

The Steelers are going to use a lot of no huddle. This is to keep Cleveland off balance but to also figure out exactly how this offense is going to work. On paper,it looks great--good running backs and speed on the flanks with Dri Archer and company. On the other hand, there is not a lot of experience, so that will be a factor. 
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Cleveland has a good defensive line and excellent coverage guys in the secondary so look for a lot of quick short passes to keep the linebackers back off the line.  If Pittsburgh's running game with Bell and Blount gets rolling, it will be a long day for the Browns.

The Steeler defense has been retooled and has speed on its side.  It is not "old and slow" but it is unblooded.  Look for a lot of blitzes and we might get burned a few times.  Keisel and Polamalu provide veteran leadership/mentors but they cannot be everywhere (though Troy comes closer than most...)

This will be a pretty good game.

Never underestimate anyone!

Even Cleveland.

Look for tight one, something like 24-21, Steelers.

Get the year off to a good start!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Happy Labor Day!

Have a safe and happy Labor Day!

Cosplay interrupted

If you want to play "soldier", wait for Halloween

The police are not soldiers.

As much as they want to be, they are not and never will be.  I hate to break it to you, Ferguson PD, but the Taliban or ISIS will eat you for lunch and laugh about it.  Just try to do your job.   And to be brutally honest about it, you are not that good at it.

In THIS country, there is a difference between the military and police.  If they cannot get that through their heads, it is time to start handing out pink slips.  Then maybe VISAS to Russia or China.

I am usually on the side of the cops but what I saw in Ferguson was an absolute disgrace.

As much as they don't want to admit it, the Ferguson PD lost.

Military organizations--of which the Ferguson PD is clearly not--are set up for high tempo operations lasting two to four weeks. The FPD was just worn out, plain and simple.Gov Nixon of Missouri send in the Missouri Highway Patrol to kick the FPD off the beat and guess what?

The situation calmed.

Police officers in police uniforms and with uncovered faces took over and the situation calmed.There is still some looting but the street does not look like Iraq.

I know what cops have to put up with. It is not an easy job.  But that is the job. 

Do the job or move on.

Part of the problem is a Department of Defense program called 1033.  It hands off surplus military equipment to the police to handle serious situations or possible terrorism. If the equipment is not used within a year, the police have to turn it back in, so maybe that is why we have seen some serious misconduct over the last couple of years.

After the Bundy confrontation in Nevada and the Ferguson mess, not to mention an incident in Texas where a SWAT team burst into a home without a warrant and the team leader caught a shotgun blast to the face,  it is obvious the citizenry is pushing back.

You had your fun with the security overkill.  Put your toys back.

Or we will take them from you.

It was not like this before and it does not have to be like this anymore. Everyone act like adults (at least 90% of the time) and you see things work out better.

Officer Friendly was better on his worst day than wanna-be Nazi stormtroopers are on their best.

And remember how it ended for the Nazis

Thus endth the sermon.

RIP Robin Williams

The mews of Robin Williams' suicide was shocking.

I could not believe it when I heard it.  It proves you never can fully understand what someone else is going through.

Robin Williams was funny, kind, and beloved.

Now, he gets to perform--as well as always--for a much better audience.

First World War--100 years ago

A century ago, yesterday, Europe plunge into what was called The Great War.Twenty years later, the world plunged into a bigger one. The possession of nuclear weapon might have prevented a third in the twentieth century and we will have to see about the twenty-first.

We are still dealing with the wreckage of 1914. The Middle East has always been chaos but the current boundaries were drawn after the First World War. Asia still has unresolved issues that date back (the Chinese point at Japanese militarism as Japan points back at China) and Europe is obsessing over Ukraine at the moment.

Even some the the names are the same. Russia and Serbia reemerged after the fall of Communism and even Germany is one nation--the most powerful in Europe.  France and Britain are still allies and the US is more deeply involved in spite of trying to "pivot" to Asia.

The First World War was probably inevitable.The Europeans had carved up Africa and Asia and Latin America was declared off limits by the US though the British got around that with some strategic investments in Argentina and Brazil.  There were too many Great Powers in too small a space. Sooner or later, they would come to blows.

And they did.

What everyone thought would be a short war was not and nearly 11 million people died.  It set up a worse war later and over 40 million would die in that one.  You would think someone, someplace, would learn from this.

They sort of did by establishing the United Nations but that seems to be more like a glorified Third World debating society.

The world will continue spinning on its merry way, dominated by psychotic descendants of apes who hopefully will not destroy the entire planet when the human experiment comes to its depressing conclusion.