As my wife and I considered our upcoming move from Seattle to Martins Ferry, Ohio, we shared three concerns:

1. Leaving our adult children who live in Seattle
2. Our daughter’s corn snake, Bethsaida, which we’ve been caring for
3. Our Dodge Caravan

I think most all of you can relate to the challenge of separating from family, but our daughters and son were supportive of our move. Our daughter, who lives in a small place, still didn’t feel ready to take the snake back, so it’s going to Ohio.

Now about that van… It’s at 280,000 miles and we weren’t sure it was up for the trip. But we didn’t want to just sell it. Because, well, it’s been a good friend. A long friendship.

The media is about to go into full lionization mode for a cold-blooded killer. Let’s take a moment to remember the victim:

Brian Thompson went from Jewell, Iowa (population 1,200) to leading 140,000 employees and overseeing $280B of revenue at one of the world’s most important companies. His mom worked as a beautician, his dad at a grain elevator—they were probably really proud when he graduated… pic.twitter.com/vX6JT2N30j

— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) December 11, 2024

Being manipulated is institutionalized in our society, and I’ve resented it since studying how Edward Bernays started the public relations business. It makes so much sense of the great Stan Freberg’s satire. Today the invaluable Bad Cattitude substack does an invaluable deep dive into the political thought games of the current moment, and I had to share it. Be sure to watch the Penn and Teller clip, because it is precisely relevant, and besides, it’s Penn and Teller.

Forgive me for this. After diddling around with it for a few days, it now seems a little boastful. But I’m among friends here, so if you think it’s over the top don’t hesitate to say so.

I’m approaching another milestone, with audiobook #89 at the publisher for review and #90 being recorded. An author friend on Facebook is celebrating ten years of being a full-time writer, and a fan made a composite graphic of the covers of all her novels. It looked like a good idea, so I started collecting thumbnails of the covers of the books I’ve narrated and trying to get them to line up straight. As I said, it took a few days, and I couldn’t do it all at once without getting a crick in my neck. But I did it, and therefore: The Bookwall.

Luigi Mangione (no relation to Chuck) is fighting extradition to New York. What kind of an idiot is this guy?  He should be begging for extradition to New York, as quickly as possible. Bragg is likely to release him without bail, put him up in a five-star hotel with all expenses paid, including health care (mental health care in this case) and perhaps charge him with jaywalking when he fled the scene of the crime. He will be released with a plea bargain on that charge, then given the keys to the city and made an assistant in the DA’s office, handling IT. Subsequently, he will receive whatever top award the city gives for meritorious service.

Several months ago my friend and fellow military historian Brady Kiel reached out with the joyous news that he and his wife would be relocating from Tampa to Hurlburt Field, near Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, and wouldn’t it be a great idea, he wondered, if we hosted a Ricochet Meetup on Florida’s Emerald Coast?

The question took me back several years to a time when I traveled the country in an 18-wheeler, attending Ricochet Meetups from Athens, GA to Seattle, WA and Nashville, TN to Los Angeles, CA and many more places. Why yes, I replied, it’s a fabulous idea!!

FBI Director Christopher Wray announced his resignation this afternoon in an internal FBI “townhall.” No timetable was given but presumably it will be before Donald Trump takes office.

When the Constitution was ratified it could take a traveler in the neighborhood of 2½ weeks to get from the southernmost state capital (Augusta, GA) to the nation’s capital in New York – and that was in good weather. To that end, the transition period between administrations was set at almost 16 weeks. This was “rectified” in 1933 with the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment that set the beginning of the new Congressional term at January 3rd and Inauguration Day for the president at January 20th.

Rain and sleet mark the first January inauguration speech of FDR

Source: Adobe Stock, digitalskillet1

There was a brilliant post yesterday about writing techniques in political propaganda.  The article it discussed involved leftist disdain for stay-at-home moms.  One normally thinks of a mother as the most wholesome of images, so convincing a majority of the population that stay-at-home moms are somehow devious and evil would seem to be a difficult goal.  Why bother?  Why do leftists want us all to hate stay-at-home moms so much?  I have a few theories: