USC Gamecocks 2015 Season Preview/Prediction

Light the beacons! College football is here! It's GAME WEEK!

Time to get things all locked down for the Thursday night game against North Carolina. South Carolina starts the season in three days, this Thursday night.

Looking forward to the 2015 season, I am really hoping that the off-season hire of Jon Hoke to assist the defense in...actually defending. Seriously. Last year the defense was not so great at defending other teams from going down the field and scoring touchdowns, which makes it hard to win games.

This year, we don't play Arkansas or Auburn in the SEC West, which I am happy about. LSU will be a fun home game, and we'll travel out to Aggie-land to face Texas A&M. Both of these games are going to be tough, but I could see us winning maybe one.

We'll get UGA in the traditional early week three slot, at night, in Athens. Yeah, probably a loss for the Gamecocks. But who cares? Each year, we all get hyped up about this game "deciding the East" and it really doesn't.

Tennessee will be tough in Rocky Top, and I'd really like to go to that game. Neyland Stadium is still on my list of places to see a game. We'll see what Mrs. Permanent Press says about me taking a road trip this year.

While the defense has nowhere to go but up, the offensive side of the ball will have some serious replacements to make. The O-line will be replacing a veteran center, we'll have new wide-receivers, and, oh yeah, a totally untested quarterback. I hope he's a quick study, because the Georgia d-line is going to be licking their chops to get at him early on.

If Carolina can get someone else on offense going strong to complement what should be a stellar year from Pharoh Cooper, we might see some good numbers from the offense.

Final Prediction: 8-4. Lock it up.

Radio Reminder!

I'll be on 95.9FM at 7:00PM tonight with John Adams. There may be some discussion of local Columbia issues, maybe some gun talk.

Saturday Morning Mood Music

Relax and enjoy your Saturday morning. Don't overcomplicate things.

"I'd be glad to let Bryan own all the guns he wants..."

Someone said this about me today. Unfortunately, it wasn't my wife.

Enjoy your weekend.

What the British say and what they mean are two different things.

As George Bernard Shaw once said: "England and America are two countries divided by a common language".

I'll be on the Radio on Sunday!

I'll be on 95.9FM "The Point". I was talking to John Adams about guns and second amendment stuff, and he asked me to come on the show and talk about it. I'll be on this Sunday at 7:00PM.

So, you know, tune in.

The last time I was on the radio, it was one of my old college friend's radio station, where he had a sports show. That was years ago, but I guess radio is still radio. You sit there and talk.

Which I can do.

The Stock Market Did Something Today

Apparently, the stock market did something today. I don't know, I was at work. Someone told me that it looked like this.

Did something about frozen concentrated orange juice get announced today?

Friday Foolin' Around: Bad Lip Reading the GOP Debate

It's Friday. How about something not so serious?



Based on his performance in that debate, I'm now firmly on Team Carson.

Friday Morning Open Thread

Happy Friday! Enjoy what is one of the last Fridays of the summer. It will be fall before you know it. I know that everyone thinks fall officially starts on September 23 or some such non-sense, but it really starts when college football season starts.

Enjoy the last two weeks of summer, y'all.

University of Alabama Sorority Video Generates Controversy

A statement from the school’s associate vice president for university relations, Deborah Lane, said that the video “is not reflective of UA’s expectations for student organizations to be responsible digital citizens.”

So a sorority's recruitment video where the girls just kind of act silly and do girly things is somehow controversial? What did you think a sorority was?

I'll have to say, I had to watch it a few times to really decide what I thought about it. *wink*

Seriously, it's a totally harmless video, and is exactly what I think of when I think of a sorority at the University of Alabama. Not every woman wants to wear all black, major in being oppressed, and burn her bra. 

In fact, if I had to guess, I would guess that most of these girls are going to live in their home towns or suburbs of southern cities. They will get married, raise children, they will teach their children to say yes ma'am and yes sir. They will take their children to church, to ball games, and to school. Finally, many of them, maybe most most of them, will live happily and will not share a single concern of those in the extreme edge of the feminist movement.

Yeah, I guess I can see why  these white southern girls are hated and targeted these days.

Congrats to the two women who graduated from Ranger School!

If they meet the exact same standards men meet than welcome to the team.

I'm all for opening up Ranger School, BUD/S, or whatever to women applicants. If they can hack it, then good for them. No barriers to entry; no softer standards.

Obama Flouts Another Well-Settled Rule

This time, it's golf.

Too many clubs in the bag, automatic DQ. America needs INTEGRITY. pic.twitter.com/In3uCcienU

— Wolverine (@wolverine280) August 18, 2015

Thing is, POTUS plays so much darn golf, you would figure he would know one of the basic rules.

h/t to the zip-line king for noticing this.

Democratic Sen. Marlon Kimpson has three horrible ideas on gun-control. I have four better ideas.

Here are his three horrible, no-good, very bad ideas.

First, Sen. Kimpson wants to ban assault-weapons (whatever that means). Second, he wants gun owners to register their guns with SLED. Third, he wants South Carolina to conduct its own background check because he thinks the feds are useless, I guess.

I understand that people want to "Do Something" in response to bad events, but this is just about the dumbest set of ideas he could come up with. First of all, all the people in Charleston were killed with a handgun. Is his proposed assault weapons ban going to ban the possession of handguns? If not, why not? So what would his ban accomplish? Nothing, that's what.

Second, he wants to have every single gun in South Carolina registered with SLED. Well, goooo-leee that's kind of ambitious, ain't it? By the way, that sounds like a gigantic database, which is going to have to be constantly updated. Every time a gun changes hands, someone moves, or anything. I mean, wow. Oh, and it's none of SLEDs damn business what guns I own.

Third, he wants South Carolina to conduct its own background check on (I presume) every single firearm transaction in South Carolina. Never mind that the federal government already does that. Never mind that South Carolina doesn't have the current ability to do that. I guess those are all just details for detail-guys, not big idea guys like the Senator.

This is just dumb. Is anyone in the Senate a grown-up?

You want some good ideas? Here are four that would actually help:

1.  How about working with gun-owners to promote safe gun storage? We could have a campaign on proper gun safety and storage. Think about it like DUI. We don't start banning types of cars or drinking in response to DUI. We promote why its important to have the right safety, and what the consequences are for making bad decisions.

2. How about providing a hot-line to call if a gun is stolen? Instead of telling SLED that they're now in charge tracking all guns in South Carolina, let's encourage gun owners to keep track of their own information on their guns, and then report it on a hotline if they are the victim of a gun theft. Same result, but now we aren't invading people's privacy, nor are we burdening SLED with the record-keeping requirement.  

3. Teach gun safety to children. You really want to stop children from gun accidents? Give them knowledge and teach them how to be safe. It's the same argument that people make for teaching sex-ed in school. Guess what, they're right. Teach kids how to be safe.

4. Get rid of gun-free zones. These are simply open invitations to mass-shooters. Right now, my kids go to daycare inside of a building that is guarded by armed security. I love that. However, I'm going to have to give that security up when they start going to elementary school. Let's give each school or school district the ability to make the decision to allow responsible administrators/teachers the ability to have a gun if they so choose. It could be something like the Armed Pilots Program that was put in place after 9/11.

All four of these ideas would be easy to implement, not cost very much, receive overwhelming support, and...oh yeah...would actually freakin' help solve the problem of gun violence.

Friday Open Thread

Friday!

Moon Light Everglades, Backus

Here are a few news stories from around these parts, and a suggestion for some grilling.

1. USC welcomes record freshman class. No, it doesn't just seem like there are more students here, there are actually more of them. Plan your driving accordingly.

2. Costco might be going in over near Harbison. This is such a dumb thing to do, as the traffic over there is absolutely atrocious. I already avoid the Harbison area like the plague. You could put a Costco over near Ft. Jackson and make a ton of money. I don't see why the northeast side of Columbia isn't getting more consideration.

3. Need an idea for grilling this weekend? Try your hand at a Bacon, Cheddar, and Chive Stuffed Planked Portobello mushroom.

4. Three weeks until college football starts. How will the Gamecocks do in 2015? Hopefully, the defense will be better. I don't think anyone really knows what to expect. Here's what Saturday Down South is predicting.

Back When Classified Information Meant Something

These days, it doesn't seem like people think that exposing Top Secret information is much of a big deal. People like Ed Snowden decide to disseminate classified information to the whole world, and people like Hillary Clinton decide that classified information doesn't really need to be protected.

When did people become so egotistical that they believe that the rules don't apply to them? In their own ways, both Snowden and Clinton both put their egos and their own desires above what is good for national security.

It wasn't always like this. We used to have people who respected what national security was, and how important it is.

Captain John Philip Cromwell was one of them.

Simply put, in the Pacific, the U.S. Navy managed to do to Japan what the German Navy failed to do to Great Britain: strangle the enemy’s war economy through gradual attrition of the fleet and merchant navy by submarines.

The biggest reason for this American success was intelligence, specifically SIGINT. Thanks to a top secret program codenamed ULTRA, the U.S. Navy knew the locations of Japanese naval and merchant vessels and, armed with this information, American submarines were able to wreak devastation on the enemy’s merchant fleet and tonnage. ULTRA, which was based on the decryption of Japanese naval codes and ciphers, was the indispensable element in the American submarine campaign against Japan, although very few personnel knew this. During World War II, the U.S. military took concepts like compartmentalization and “need to know” seriously.

Captain Cromwell was fully “read on” for ULTRA and understood its importance to the secret war against Japan. He accepted the burden of such knowledge, and he went to sea for the last time on 5 November 1943, when he left Pearl Harbor with USSSculpin (SS-191), part of his squadron, on a war patrol to attack Japanese shipping in advance of the coming U.S. invasion of Tarawa.

By the middle of the month, Sculpin was on station off Truk and ready to engage the enemy. Its effort to attack a Japanese task force on the morning of 19 November was cut short by a faulty depth gauge, which led to the Sculpin surfacing right in front of the Japanese destroyer Yamagumo. While the submarine managed to dive again, numerous enemy depth charges forced Sculpin to the surface, into a one-sided gunfight with the Japanese destroyer. While Sculpin put up a good fight, cannons on the Yamagumo blasted her decks clean, killing most of the command group. The surviving deck officer made the decision to abandon ship and scuttle the submarine.

Some forty-one sailors from the Sculpin managed to escape the sinking vessel and were taken prisoner by the Japanese, but Captain Cromwell was not among them. When the word went out to abandon ship, John Cromwell stayed on the sinking submarine. The forty-two year-old husband and father knew he had no choice but to go down with the Sculpin. Not only had he been briefed on the impending invasion of Tarawa, but more importantly, he knew about the ULTRA secret, the U.S. Navy’s unmentionable ace in the hole against Japan.

Knowing he could not let the enemy, who was prone to torturing prisoners, find out about ULTRA, Captain Cromwell elected to go down with the boat; according to all survivors’ accounts, he did so calmly, stoically. The full story of John Cromwell’s heroism and sacrifice only became known to the U.S. Navy after the war, when Sculpin survivors emerged from Japanese captivity.

Simply put, classified information is important. It's not just a game. It's not something that some clerk stamps on a document to feel important. Real lives and real policy implications hang on it.

No, the United States is not at war right now, but the world ain't exactly a tea party right now, either. We need to be able to keep our secrets safe. The people trusted with those secrets need to understand the importance of keeping them safe.

"TOP SECRET" E-Mails found on Hillary's Server

"I did not have sexual relations with that information, Ms. Top-Secret."

No biggie, though. Everyone lies about sex inappropriate handling of classified information.

I'm beginning to think that Hillary may not have been one-hundred percent honest with us. If this was anyone else, the FBI would have already kicked in the door, seized all of the computers, and there would be jail time.

Two things to note: First you won't see any of this in the news. There won't be any mention of the Democratic frontrunner for POTUS in 2016 being under investigation by the FBI.

Oh, and second, nothing will ever actually come of this.

"Regret equals rape"

What in the world?

A student expelled from Washington and Lee University for alleged sexual misconduct will be allowed to continue with his gender bias lawsuit against the school, U.S. District Court Judge Norman Moon ruled on Aug. 8. In the lawsuit, a Title IX officer at the school is quoted during a presentation she gave to the woman who later accused John Doe. The Title IX officer is alleged to have said “regret equals rape” and “went on to state her belief that this point was a new idea everyone, herself included, is starting to agree with.” Shortly thereafter, an allegation of misconduct was launched against John Doe. The Title IX officer played a significant role in the investigatory process.

This story only originally caught my eye because I graduated from W&L. I have to say that I am surprised that this degree of political correctness (or whatever you want to call it) has infiltrated my alma mater.

I don't know how anyone can say that "regret equals rape" in a logical and sane world if those words mean what they ordinarily mean. I know that colleges and universities have to take some role in dealing with these issues, but an allegation of rape is a very serious allegation. I don't understand why colleges and universities are injecting themselves into what should be a criminal investigation by law enforcement.

I guess doubting women's claims has political risks. Ruining men's lives does not.

Friday Morning Open Thread

James Everett Stuart, "Sunset Glow, Mt. Hood from near the Columbia River" (1916)

I gotta do the lawyer thing most of the day today, so here's some art. Enjoy the view.

70th Anniversary of Hiroshima

On this, the seventieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, (and our national moralizing over it) I would commend Paul Fussell's Thank God For The Atom Bomb to you. It's a short read.

When the atom bombs were dropped and news began to circulate that “Operation Olympic” would not, after all, be necessary, when we learned to our astonishment that we would not be obliged in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared, and shelled, for all the practiced phlegm of our tough facades we broke down and cried with relief and joy. We were going to live. We were going to grow to adulthood after all. The killing was all going to be over, and peace was actually going to be the state of things.

Go read the whole thing. Afterwards, tell me if you would still send young American men to charge fortified positions with only rifles and bayonets, against an enemy with suicidal intensity.

Yes, it's horrible that we had to drop nuclear bombs on Japan. However, it's also possible to say that, while it was horrible, it was the right thing to do. You don't have to like it, but you do have to respect that hard men made hard decisions.

P.J. O'Rourke at his best.

Republican politicians stink. This is because real Republicans don’t go into politics. We have a life. We have families, jobs, responsibilities, and it takes all our time and energy to avoid them and go play golf. We leave politics to our halt, our lame, and our feeble-minded. Republican candidacies are sinecures for members of the GOP who are otherwise useless and/or retired.

Democrats, on the other hand, are brilliant politicians. And I mean that as a vicious slur. Think how we use the word “politics.” Are “office politics” ever a good thing? When somebody “plays politics” to get a promotion, does he or she deserve it? When we call a coworker “a real politician,” is that a compliment?

That's all I can quote here. Go read the whole thing.

Ultra-Low Flying Russian Helicopter and a Chill Tune

Sometimes you just gotta roll the windows down, put some tunes on, and do some ultra-low flying down the highway in your Russian helicopter.

Pretty cool mashup of Snoop and The Doors.

Stuck in the office? Come to Alaska.

Whatever you're doing today isn't a cool as what my dad is doing.

Dr. John T. Caskey preparing to board a de Havilland Beaver

How's your day going?

“I’ve got no particular feelings about it, I quite enjoyed it really.”

“It was just part of my life,” Mr. Farnes said of his time in a battle that is widely regarded as saving Britain from German occupation,

Mr. Farnes joined 501 Squadron in September 1939 and during his time with Royal Air Force he shot down eight enemy planes. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal on 22nd of October 1940.

It's amazing that a man took part in one of the most important battles of the twentieth century, and he's so nonchalant about it, but I think he's being completely honest.