A bit of help with moral clarity

Pro-Russian outlets have made a great deal of how Vatnika Putina tries to appear to be a "Christian traditionalist", but if one looks below the hood, one can get a much better idea of what's really going on.  You've got Soviet Russian tanks flying the old flag of the USSR, erection of statues of Lenin, establishment of "People's Republics" in Donbas, laws criminalizing free speech, and now, Putina is praising Fidel Castro, all while he's invading a sovereign nation that , if conquered, would expend the realm of Soviet Russian influence closer to the 1989 borders.

As Barack Obama infamously (and wrongly) claimed in his 2012 debate with Mitt Romney, the 1980s are calling, and they want their foreign policy back.  Except in this case, Putina really is a modern day Brezhnev, but with the huge advantage of neighbors that have, to a degree, forgotten the Cold War.

Thinking of sportsball

It was a sad weekend, as my favorite team, Michigan State, (expectedly) lost to Penn State, and my second favorite team, the team playing Michigan, also lost.   But that noted, something caught my eye.  Michigan players decided to "plant the flag" in the Buckeye, and  former Ohio State players were not exactly pleased.

Now as a former cross country runner, I'm not 100% up to speed on the sportsball politics of placing one's team's flag on the 50 yard line, but apparently it's obnoxious, and that brings to mind two other incidents involving the Michigan concussion-ball players; fights in the tunnel with opponents.

I'm not trying to excuse the Spartan players who tried to beat the snot out of some Wolverine opponents, mind you.  My thought is that at the end of a football game, physical superiority is pretty much decided, so trying to do this sort of thing is idiotic, and those who are convicted probably deserve what they get.  Players need to be reminded that you can quite literally throw away your future employability in five minutes or less.  Most of them are not going to the NFL, after all.

But that noted, this is the third such incident I've heard about this year, and I've got to wonder whether Harbaugh's team is going beyond the standard level of trash talking to get quite the reputation in the Big 10.  Maybe it's time for them to cool it before things really get out of hand.

And, of course, Go Boilermakers!  

Why I am a fundamentalist

Evangelicalism and fundamentalism have their problems, yes, but we at least are not (yet) envisioning the spear wound in Jesus' side as a vagina.  Nor are we arguing that Renaissance art constitutes Biblical exegesis.

Pro tip for those still in Episcopal/Church of England churches; if your vicar is open to preaching this kind of nonsense, what you do is to walk right out the door and walk down the street to a good, Bible-preaching evangelical church.  They do exist in England.

A hideous picture of a fashion house

Apparently the fashion house Balenciaga, not content to clothe its models in what can only charitably be described as overpriced hobo gear, has proceeded to promote its children's line with teddy bears in bondage attire.

They've apologized, but at a certain level, the thing that comes to mind is that this kind of thing, not to mention the clunky shoes and ill-fitting skirts, pants, and coats that are currently in Balenciaga's line, seems to indicate that the house just really doesn't like any of their customers.  There is little there that actually looks good on any of the models, and the general trend of the house is to ignore things like the "waist" of the wearer.

It's a pattern that seems to pervade houte couture--between the "heroin chic" look of too many models, the hideous ways that their attire does not seem to fit the wearer, and more, one has to wonder what needs to change before fashion actually works for the wearer.  

Note; this was planned

Given that it takes a few days for Russian armed forces to prepare missiles for launch, it's almost certain that they planned their "response" to yesterday's Ukrainian refusal to consider peace talks, a launch of about 100 missiles predominantly aimed at key military targets like apartment buildings, power generation, and at least one town in eastern Poland.  Here's a map:unless you've got a much better eye than I do, I don't see any plausibly military targets within 20 miles.  Given that "wounded birds" don't fly well, I'm guessing this is a problem with the guidance system, not that Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles hit it.

Pro tip for Russia; if your missiles can't hit within 20 miles of the intended target, it's a war crime to launch them because it's indiscriminate attacks that will kill civilians, as tragically occurred today.  Time to send your generals to Den Haag for trial.  And their boss, of course.  Putina delenda est!

Update: it turns out that the missile was a S-300 fired by Ukraine to intercept incoming Russian drones and missiles.  But that noted, you don't blame the defender when his defense measures go awry; you blame the country that launched missiles at the defender.

Well, that's interesting....

Apparently in New Hampshire, a young transgender man who's got to be pushing 300lbs  has won a beauty pageant.  Even apart from the propriety of young men participating in beauty pageants for women, didn't beauty pageants used to be about....beauty?  Unless there is huge demand out there for what will soon resemble "drag" shows, I'm guessing this pageant is going to destroy its own clientele.

(side note; I am one who is not terribly impressed by the body types favored for most beauty pageants, and would agree that more realistic body types ought to be represented....but that said, more realistic body types for a woman ought to be respresented, ahem)

Brutal, brutal sanctions

The Daily Record claims that Russia is working to secure imports of a vital commodity--Scotch Whisky-- I would guess because domestic supplies of spirits cannot keep up.  That's wild, because even during the Soviet years, they generally managed to make enough vodka to keep the BWC (blood water content) of thirsty Russians down.

Wow

President Biden argues that electricity produced by solar and wind is much cheaper than that produced by burning coal (the opposite is true when subsidies are excluded), and moreover argues that anyone who can mine coal or even shovel it into a furnace (a job that more or less ended 80 years ago in most areas) has the ability to learn to code.

Writing as a guy who interacts with people who write code every day at work, let me simply say that if learning to code were as easy as Biden thinks, we wouldn't need nearly as many talented immigrants to do the work.  It certainly isn't something that everyone who can handle a shovel can do.

With thinking like that, I'm going to say it about President Biden: 25th Amendment.  He either is totally unashamed to tell blatant lies, or he's mentally incompetent.  The sad thing is that the next two people on the succession list, Vice President Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are probably worse.