126 Comments

1. The clip of the Pence interview with Carlson was interesting. I think Pence’s comment relates to the traditional Republican party line of the Federal level not infiltrating the State level. He, as President, would focus on the international arena and let the State Governor’s focus on their individual cities’ problems. He did a pretty good job in Indiana as Gov and knows what State governance is all about. He could have done a better job of explaining his position for sure but like me he might not be much of a Carlson fan!

2. Listening to this again, another thought crossed my mind. The illegals crossing the border are taken to the airport and given a ticket to anywhere in the U.S. Are these on commercial flights? If so, how does Homeland Security allow them to board? It’s been 5 years since I’ve flown anywhere, but at that time I had to show my driver’s license or passport to be able to board the plane. I don’t think that those regulations have changed. I doubt seriously that these illegals have a passport, much less a U.S. driver’s license or state I.D., so that means Homeland Security is complicit with this.

   1. I read elsewhere (wish I kept the link) that they can use the paperwork they’re given by CBP as ID or to get ID.

   2. But then, isn’t the Border Patrol now part of Homeland Security? Or are they still part of the Department of Commerce / Customs?

3. Movie of the Week: Dead Reckoning Part One … correction … Tom Cruise turned 61 years old on July 3rd and is not 63 years old.

   I was disappointed by the movie. For a three hour movie only the last 30 minutes on the train was sufficiently engaging. The first half of the movie is basically way too much dialog, ” … be afraid of the AI. the entity, everyone else wants to control the AI, only Ethan Hunt (Cruise) wants to kill it.” Too abstract not enough of an emotional connection. The HERO of any movie is only as good as the VILLIAN, and this villain was a big yawn for me.

   I teach computer science, the only reason to be afraid of AI is the PEOPLE who are using AI … not the AI itself. None of the dialog, gave any sense of who was behind the AI.

   The other major errors in the plot were the demise of Ilsa Faust (played by Rebecca Ferguson). The car chase scene through the streets of Rome, was based on two women drivers … this seemed to be a desperate attempt to get women to be interested in car chases … it did not work. Like all car chases, I just wanted it to end, resigned to the idea that this part of the movie mainly appeals to men. Same experience of no emotional engagement, at any level … not even when Ethan Hunt responds to the demise of Faust.

   I became a fan of Tom Cruise (and Chris McQuarrie) for the first time last year, with Top Gun Maverick. I saw the film 25 times … in theatres. I bought a 4K HD screen just to watch the HD DVD even more times. I admit, I was desperate for big screen movies … having been locked out for two years by COVID19 restrictions. I made a point of watching the entire canon of Cruise’s work just to figure out why Top Gun Maverick was such a draw for me. In the end, I decided that it was the dialog of McQuarrie, the directing of Kosinski and the editing of the movie … Cruise simply allowed himself be emotionally engaging, for a change … no doubt because he has been signing the paraphernalia of Top Gun fans for 36 years. Also, the plot line of Maverick is a thinly veiled version of the 1986 movie.

   And so I conclude, emotional engagement with anything Cruise does is going to be a hit or miss affair. If the combined budget is in fact $491 million, i doubt very much that it will make a profit this year. The movie simply does not have the same level of engagement that Top Gun Maverick had. I will not be watching this film a second time, and will probably have to force myself to watch Part Two next year, if only to see how badly Hollywood ef’d up their understanding of AI.

4. You assume his performance was for us! Mike Pence was not talking to the American people. He was talking deliberately over us, and to the Globalist!

   1. indeed, his body language said so

5. Yes, Catherine, vending machines at community colleges are cash cows for them. After 35 years as a Chemical Engineer in industry, I got tired of the rat race and taught for 4 years at a community college / vo-tech, teaching Industrial Operations, Maintenance, and Automation. The local high schools would send 11th and 12th grade students to there to learn Automotive Maintenance, Welding, Nursing, Criminal Justice, Cosmetology, and my industrial program, where they got college credit. We had students from the city high school for a 2 hour morning class and students from 4 county high schools for a 2 hour afternoon class. Midway through each class, we had a 15 minute break, and students would line up at the 6 vending machines in the common area for snacks and drinks because they did not have them at their high schools. I had to monitor them 1 day a week. I saw some students spend $5 per day there. I complained to the higher ups in committee meetings about what message were we sending our children about nutrition by having these there. It fell on deaf ears. When the school built a new building a block away for my program and welding, I was able to forestall the installation of vending machines for 6 months. But, magically, after the start of one Spring semester, 4 were installed in my new building. I delved into this further, going to the comptroller of the college, and found out that on my campus alone, their kickbacks from the vending machines amounted to $1000 / month considering we had 200 high school students enrolled for morning, 200 h.s. students enrolled for afternoon, and 100 adults for evening classes. With that much income being generated for a small college of 3000 students, including the academic campus, that was too much income to turn down.

6. Carl Sagan died in December 1996 of a rare disease, same year that he gave that interview. An interesting year indeed!

7. re US Army Reserves: CAF you are spot on about needing to know the MOS (military occupational specialty) of the reservists being called up in order to understand why they are being called up. The reserves and national guard get a bad wrap, but they are filled with lots of specialty professionals, and lots of people who juggle two careers (military and civilian) and can think outside the box, solving problems quicker than active duty counterparts (speaking from experience). I deployed with two guys who were called out of retirement, a logistics professional and an engineering professional, both true experts in their fields, and it was quickly evident why they were called upon given our mission. Thanks to you and John for another great M&M!

   1. How do we find out what their MOS’s are? Hmm. My late husband, a Colonel ( Vietnam era) in the Army Medical Service Corps, was active reserve & was called to Active Duty for Desert Shield/Desert Storm with a 3 day notice left on home message machine. It was terrible experience on many levels; he managed with great difficulty to be transferred into Inactive Reserves after a 91/2 months on Active Duty. His MOS was Internal Medicine ; was also Board Certified in Cardiovascular Diseases. The young Captain who facilitated his transfer had blowback for assisting him ( was all above board). Army wanted him in Active Reserves. He loved his country and the military. They don’t make them like him anymore.

   2. Thank you. Yes, a lot of deep talent in the reserves.

Comments are closed.