Fiction, technology, current events, nostalgia. Veteran. Nearly fluent in English, German, Fortran & C++.
Main Street, USA
- Tweets 17,043
- Following 100,266
- Followers 107,521
- Likes 141,347
Pinned Tweet
How do you fail at multiple executions?
Christa Pike confessed and was convicted of torturing and murdering a 19-year-old woman she thought was trying to steal her boyfriend. Yesterday, Tennessee botched her execution by lethal injection - twice. They also botched the execution of Tony Carruthers (convicted triple murderer) in May.
I hope TN will look long and hard at whether these were accidental failures or a pattern of intentional sabotage.
My thoughts on the death penalty in comments.
ALT Summary of Christa Pike triple murder including confession.
131
54
234
7,078
Happy Granddaddd retweeted
Updated details:
- The first passenger (Yaniv Hayun, possibly a plumber according to Trump) to enter the cockpit said the pilot's body was on the floor blocking the door, as if he had unlocked the door and then collapsed in the way. Yaniv choked out the copilot and then pulled back on the controls to end the dive before others took over flying. He said he believes the pilot thought his last act in life was to give passengers a chance to enter. Yaniv Hayun may have had unspecified aviation experience.
- Two extra airline pilots onboard then took over control of the aircraft.
- Saudi officials then granted permission for the flight (officially bound for Israel) to land in Saudi Arabia.
ALT Yaniv Hayun meets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport, his shirt still stained with blood from the cockpit struggle (Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO)
A serious incident on an Israel-bound FlyDubai Boeing 737 Max 8 was stopped by passengers and crew.
Initial reports say the copilot fought with and stabbed the pilot, intending to crash the plan.
The plane dropped from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet during the fight.
A second flight crew onboard took over, replacing the injured pilot and the suicidal one.
[Link in comments]
ALT This map shows the route of the plane as it made the emergency landing (Image: Getty)
27
39
189
4,141
There are times when a military response is appropriate for domestic unrest.
Riots, arson, and mass assaults by foreigners would seem to qualify.
The French riots should be put down as harshly as necessary, for the good of their country.
7
14
52
777
Trump: "On election night, Alabama is going to prove that America does not belong to those who hate it. America belongs to the people who love it."
I'm not psychic and won't make a prediction, but I am eager to find out which side voters will choose on Election Day.
I hope it's one that is good for America and for our children.
2
3
17
588
My dad walked to school barefoot, weather permitting. One of his chores was bringing home dinner, squirrels or rabbits, with the old single-shot .22 he carried. I still have that rifle. The son of that once-poor man went to MIT and built a comfortable life. I’m grateful that was possible here.
God blessed America!
ALT AI imagining me walking with my dad, as he taught me both safety and hunting. I've had squirrel pie. It's not bad, but it's not a favorite.
7
13
61
653
Early dating mistake, age 15:
After a year together, my girlfriend "Mary Ann" said she never wanted to speak to me again. No reason. An hour later the school’s cute bad girl, "Ginger", said she liked me. She kissed. I kissed back. Mary Ann saw it and cried.
What I didn’t know: Ginger had already thanked Mary Ann for “teaching me to kiss” - a lie meant to split us. We both fell for it. Ginger moved on to another boy almost immediately.
Two years later I took Ginger to Homecoming. Her friends had pushed me to ask. She was beautiful. I was still a teenage boy. One date was enough to see how shallow she was. I realized I didn’t like bad girls, attractive or not.
The lesson that stuck: 50 years later, I still haven’t done anything that could be read as cheating.
ALT Not the same girls, but Mary Ann and Ginger from Gilligan's Island are where I got the names.
6
48
1,870
President Trump said Socialism would cost America $49 trillion.
I would happily pay that much to permanently end Socialism.
Those who understand history know:
- What is life like in Socialist North Korea relative to Capitalist South Korea?
- Which direction were people risking their lives to cross between Socialist East Germany and Capitalist West Germany?
Don't vote your way into Socialism, because fighting your way out gets ugly.
ALT Satellite night images reveal a striking contrast on the Korean Peninsula. South Korea glows brightly, resembling a dense circuit board of constant activity, while North Korea remains largely dark - from Dubai Homes Instagram
2
4
32
703
Latest update: The hijacker had previously been identified as a security risk due to possession of extremist materials - when he was a trainee pilot. Discount airline FlyDubai still put him in the cockpit.
This should affect how much future passengers trust this airline. I've flown Royal Air Maroc, but I'll never fly with FlyDubai.
A serious incident on an Israel-bound FlyDubai Boeing 737 Max 8 was stopped by passengers and crew.
Initial reports say the copilot fought with and stabbed the pilot, intending to crash the plan.
The plane dropped from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet during the fight.
A second flight crew onboard took over, replacing the injured pilot and the suicidal one.
[Link in comments]
ALT This map shows the route of the plane as it made the emergency landing (Image: Getty)
11
11
57
1,412
Every expenditure in each federal department should be checked in detail.
Audit them all. That includes construction for the Federal Reserve: no special standards, just one uniform rule.
President Trump on Truth Social:
3
2
27
747
President Trump just posted this on Truth Social, so it must be true.
Don't argue, I'll defend it with my life:
Those loyal to Trump cheered for Trump at a Trump rally.
Get out and vote, and the election will turn out well.
ALT Truth social post: Thank you Oklahoma! President DONALD J. TRUMP
2
6
32
911
Happy birthday to the Bill of Rights!
On October 2, 1789, President George Washington sent 12 (proposed) Amendments approved by Congress on September 25 to the states for ratification. The first one (apportionment) never passed. The second (congressional pay) waited until 1992. The last ten were approved - our Bill of Rights.
Top items (originally the Third and Fourth Amendments):
- freedom of religion
- freedom of speech
- freedom of the press
- peaceable assembly
- petition grievances
- right to keep and bear arms
1
4
11
451
I'm tired of inaccurate takes on socialism.
Roads, schools, government contracts, etc. are not in any way socialist.
Pretending every government expenditure is socialist is as misleading as pretending every community organization is Klan (except that Socialism has consistently been far more lethal).
Klan and similar groups killed about 6,500 total in their entire history. Socialists killed over 100,000,000.
ALT dictionary definition of socialism as collective ownership of the means of production
“SpaceX is effectively a socialist enterprise. It does business almost exclusively with the government. You could say that Starlink is a bit of anomalous there. They're starting to develop now their own independent satellite communication network. … But other than that, SpaceX is basically a socialist enterprise."
If you’re interested in the actual facts versus semantic manipulation, the data is public information in the S1…
Over 3 years cleanly attributable SpaceX government revenue has moved from 15% down to 4% of their revenue in the most recent quarter.
If you want be as punitive as possible and assign ALL enterprise/Gov Starlink revenue as government socialist revenue. Which isn’t true, but even so that’s only 25% of their revenue.
I leave it to you if these numbers qualify as a “socialist enterprise”
5
6
37
814
San Diego State football has a mumps outbreak: 14-plus cases reported.
All confirmed cases received two doses of MMR, the usual pattern in college outbreaks. Mumps protection wanes, and locker rooms are ideal for spread.
People using this as a post-COVID hesitancy lesson are aimed at the wrong target. The relevant factor is how long childhood doses protect, not whether these players skipped them.
My view is still informed consent: publish the effectiveness, waning data, and side-effect profile for each vaccine, then let individuals decide. Informed consent is always the answer in medicine.
14
2
27
918
Amazon (Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services) directly made their case for data centers. Consider the source, and do with this what you will:
- Data centers use relatively little water for the economic return
- Amazon claims they pay their own way on energy use
- low emissions
- data centers generate high-paying jobs and pay a lot in taxes
I am a huge fan of data centers, mainly because it's a contest whether we get to true AI first or China does, and China winning would be a global disaster.
Link in comments.
22
5
55
1,383
Never let government take over housing in the USA.
According to Daily Mail, a 34-week pregnant Scottish woman was refused emergency housing by her local council, while 3,500 'migrants' received homes.
They report 7,000 homeless adults and 3,000 homeless children in Glasgow alone.
The less we allow government to intrude on our lives, the better. Bureaucrats perpetuate problems rather than solving them.
[Link in comments.]
ALT Homeless person sleeping on the streets of Glasgow. Alamy Live news.
15
25
81
944
Imagine if car insurance covered oil changes, tires, and gasoline - but denied coverage on half the major crashes. That is what medical insurance in the USA does today.
- overcovered for trivia, so some see a doctor for minor problems instead of paying for OTC medicine
- undercovered in big crises, where insurance companies often deny coverage hoping we won't fight
Obama made it worse, not better, and "Medicare for all", would be a disaster where no one would get decent care but we'd all wait forever to be seen.
No, I don't want the compassion of the IRS and the efficiency of the Motor Vehicle Department from my doctor's office.
ALT Stock illustration - medical waiting room
4
2
31
575