Fireside Chat

Friend Anthony Ragan has a non-politics blog. I had no idea... Public Secrets is his long standing politics blog.

This Hurts

#Redskins .
From MSNBC:

The Redskins have been under Snyder’s thumb for a decade now, and to celebrate this anniversary in fitting fashion, they snapped the Detroit Lions’ losing streak, just hired an offensive consultant who was spending his days playing bingo, apparently overpaid for another free agent or two and certainly over-reached for a head coach. Once again, Snyder’s grand plans are fluttering about, like a Billy Kilmer pass, taking legions of hopes along for what promises to be another ridiculous ride.

Painful, but it has no real sting.

Until the writer ends with this:

Owners never sell unless they lose money or interest, and Snyder has plenty of that. He is owner for life, and chew on this, Redskins fans: He’s not even 44.

He's not even 44!

We are doomed.

A (Slim) Case For Hope

#Redskins .

The Redskins have a very slim window to have a successful season. Here are a few things that could work out to make it so:

1) The defense is still ranked #4 despite the Week Three debacle.

2) Left Tackle is Heyer's natural position. If he has any talent
perhaps this is where it will emerge.
2a) Mike Williams does have talent and size. Perhaps the technique
will also emerge here at Right Tackle.
2b) W. Montgomery has enough to be a serviceable Right Guard.
2c) Perhaps Rabach, as the ranking vet on the line, will rise to the
challenge of leadership.

3) Jason Campbell, despite not having any semblance of a professional
line in front of him, a #2 WR, support from a running game, and
handicapped by less than adequate game planning or play calling from
the sideline, is still among the best in the NFL statistically.

4) They have one more week to get well against a winless and decrepit team.

There's hope, but it is fleeting.

Zorn has two weeks to make his case to last beyond the bye. If he can
swallow his pride and put in a game plan* that maximizes the talent he
has on offense and gets the maximum support from teams and defense he
can beat the Chiefs and will have a decent shot at unending the Eagles
on MNF. Odds are against it, but he has a shot. If he makes the
shot, then he has even odds to get a run post-bye that might erase
enough of the first five weeks' for the rancor to subside.

*Shotgun/no huddle with a little wildcat mixed in!

State of the Skins

#Redskins .
Curly R says it all...

It is said that when the end of days comes the world shall turn upside down and everything you know shall be unknown to you. After three weeks portent it came this week to the Redskins. The team hired a consultant to help with the offense, but the guy has been out of football for four years and has no charter or defined role or goals with the team. The defensive coordinator up and abandoned his duties dealing with the media, this of course being the man that represents the only part of the team that is performing, albeit not spectacularly and to make matters worse his underling and replacement was not aware it was going to happen. And then tailback Clinton Portis turns on his lead blocking full back over what Clinton said was poor blocking two games ago. It's cats and dogs, living together. Oh if only the Redskins owner were brave enough to face the fans and media and explain how the margins of bad management have gotten thinner every year to the point where the entire organization looks like a corrupt banana republic government.

The fall of the Redskins has been long and hard to watch, now the team has broken the cloud layer and the ground is in sight and rushing up to meet us. Dan Snyder you have taken the team you loved growing up and destroyed it. How does that feel?

Handgun Discharge Pilot Re-Hired

#tsa #guns .
Remember the pilot whose weapon discharged because of a faulty holster the TSA mandated all pilots with handguns use? An arbitrator has ordered US Airways to hire him back.

US Airways said Friday that Jim Langenhahn resumed training on Monday after an 18-month disciplinary suspension.

The airline said as part of the federal arbitrator's decision to reinstate Langenhahn, he will be barred from carrying a gun in the cockpit. After the 2001 terror attacks in which hijackers armed with knives seized four jetliners, pilots lobbied for the right to carry guns in the cockpit.

A 2002 federal law allowed pilots to carry handguns on board if they took part in a program run by the Transportation Security Administration, which includes a week of weapons training.

The item refers to the troubled holsters:

Langenhahn's case was strengthened when the Department of Homeland Security faulted the design of holsters used by pilots who carry their weapons on board planes. The department's inspector general said the design increased the chance of accidental discharge when pilots inserted their guns in the holsters.

The inspector general recommended that the TSA halt use of the locking holster and consider other methods for armed pilots to stow their weapons. The holsters have been in use since 2006.

TSA spokesman Nelson Minerly defended the holster design, saying they have been used "millions of times by thousands of (pilots) without incident."

"The system has been very reliable," he said.

Reliable except when it fails... Who in their right mind puts a metal bar into the trigger guard when designing a handgun holster?

Insanity.

Paul Huebl of CrimeFileNews broke the story of how this holster and weapon were made for mishap back in December 2007 and made a video of how the discharge would happen - and it did.

It's good that the pilot got his job back. It's bad that the TSA is STILL mandating use of this holster made for failure and that the pilot has been scapegoated for the holster failing.

Also See:
Previously:
TSA Holster Increases Chance for Accidental Discha...
Pilot Scapegoated
Did TSA Idiocy Cause Airline Gun Mishap?

Hey USCF, I QUIT

#chess #uscf .


Just called the USCF office and demanded that they cancel my membership. The guy I spoke with said only USCF Executive Director Bill Hall can cancel a membership and that they'll have Hall call me.

Most USCF members are aware of the several years' long idiocy that has landed in the court systems from New York to California. I was threatened by one side late last year over the chess blog I had so I simply shut it down. To be honest, I had already tired of the situation so it was an easy decision to make. I left all the posts up including those I was being threatened over, so the bullies decidedly did NOT get what they wanted.

Now another party to the litigation idiocy is threatening me with "exposure" of certain untrue allegations. They have done this before to other people in and out of chess and the USCF has allowed them to remain members. I love chess. Other than this crap, I have liked being a USCF member since my high school days in the late 70's. However, the USCF lets these folks stick around and cause regular members money and strife.

No more, at least not for me. I'm cutting my ties with the USCF for good. Why should any chess fan go through this just to play a game? Until the USCF comes up with a membership code of conduct that penalizes this sort of behaviour I'm gone - and I've heard from loads of others for whom this is true.

Adios, USCF.

Taser: Avoid Chest

#taser .
(graphic as seen on Taser, International's web page)

Taser International is now advising law enforcement to NOT target the chest area.
From CTV Calgary:

"The rationale from Taser in their training bulletin is that the new medical research that is coming out is showing that the closer probe to heart distances have a likelihood, or a possibility, that they may affect the rhythm of the heart," says SSgt. Butler.

No sh!t, Sherlock. Anyone that has seen a defibrillator has understood that from the start. Want to talk to me about excited delirium, now? All these people that have died after being hit multiple times in the upper torso (and elsewhere) and just now we have this "advisory" from Taser's makers...

[MORE]
Taser International Blinks
Truth Not Tasers

Inevitable

#Redskins

You knew this was coming...

Fire Jim Zorn!

Cerrato is not immune, either. There's a petition to fire our cousin Vinny.

Maybe they can both take a vacation to Six Flags.

And take Dan Snyder with them.