If you want one.

I put up a True Detective thread, below.

Posted by: Ace at 05:03 PM | Comments (257)
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If you want one.

I put up a True Detective thread, below.

Posted by: Ace at 05:03 PM | Add Comment
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Because a few people asked, and I'm not putting up news anyway.

Posted by: Ace at 05:02 PM | Comments (74)
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Because a few people asked, and I'm not putting up news anyway.

Posted by: Ace at 05:02 PM | Add Comment
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First, thanks for listening to the first Special Podcast on the DoD Budget I did with Bryan McGrath. It was recorded before events got crazy in Ukraine but it's worth listening to given the events of the last few days and what it will mean for US policy.

Second, we need a better name than Special Podcast. I'm going to try to do one or two of these a week so they won't be very special soon.

On to this week....

As some of you may know I'm opposed to legalization/amnesty for the 11 million or so illegal immigrants in the US. I was interested in talking to someone who took the other side of this contentious issue and was fortunate enough to get Daniel Garza of the Libre Initiative to discuss this and something I do support, outreach to Hispanic voters.

We did agree on a number of things (a general desire to see the legal immigration system reformed) but disagreed sharply when it came to amnesty.

I'm not sure how many minds are out there to be changed but whichever side you are on, Daniel is a passionate advocate for his side.

As with the previous interview/debate this runs about 30 minutes.

[ RSS] [iTunes] [Download] [Ask The Blog]

You can follow both Daniel and the Libre Initiative on Twitter.

As always, thanks to Andy (@theH2) for his technical voodoo that makes this happen.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:07 AM | Comments (133)
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ItÂ’s hard to keep up with fast moving events (like this) so I thought IÂ’d run through some of the bigger picture items.

I know itÂ’s popular on the right (and even among some liberals) to say that ObamaÂ’s weakness, as evidenced by his failure to follow through on Syria, emboldened Putin but I donÂ’t buy it.

Recall that in 2008 Vladimir Putin undertook a similar operation in the South Ossetia region of Georgia. Was George W. Bush viewed as weak and vacillating by Putin? Had Bush appeared to the world as week and unwilling to use military force in a crisis?

If BushÂ’s decisive, unilateral, cowboy persona didn't lead Putin to lay low, why should we assume that launching a few cruise missiles (remember "just muscular enough not to get mocked"?), would have been a decisive factor in PutinÂ’s Ukraine calculations?

Would a President Romney have made a difference? Again, I doubt it. While Romney has been vindicated for his view of Russia (and Obama again to be shown to be naïve) it’s hard to believe Romney’s presence in the White House would have altered Russia’s view of its interests in Ukraine. These interest are what ultimately drive Russia’s actions.

A few things to consider:

Ukraine is a major trading partner of Russia.

It was to be a cornerstone in PutinÂ’s customs union which was/is to be an alternative trading bloc to the EU. When Ukraine flirted with joining the EU and wrecking the Russian plan things began to escalate.

Many of RussiaÂ’s gas pipelines, carrying the source of RussiaÂ’s wealth, run through Ukraine.

Russia has been fanatical about access to a warm water port since Peter the Great. Do you really think they were going to risk losing access to their outlet to the Black Sea and from there the Mediterranean?

In general, the Russians have spent the last 20 or so years watching areas that they think are rightly part of their sphere of influence aligning more and more with the west. Now the largest, most important, and historically closest part of the former empire is wrecking your economic dreams and throwing in with their opponents, the Russians were going to simply shrug because Obama threw some missiles at Syria or Mitt Romney was in the White House? ThatÂ’s fanciful at best.

Putin made a very simple and accurate calculationÂ…no US President or European leader was going to go to war over Ukraine.

more...

Posted by: DrewM at 05:56 AM | Comments (426)
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Posted by: rdbrewer at 02:20 PM | Comments (376)
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Today, NASCAR takes it to Phoenix for The Profit 500. NASCAR provides a snapshot of the race HERE.

Key race info:

Race time: Coverage begins at 3:00 EST with the green flag scheduled for 3:15

Distance: 500 km or 312 laps

On the front row: Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, No. 2 Ford (139.384 mph); Joey Logano, Team Penske, No. 22 Ford (139.265 mph)

Daytona 500 follow-up:

[Full disclosure: I had never watched an entire race before last week and I am still SHOCKED at how much I enjoyed it!]

Last week saw the opening of NASCAR's Sprint Cup season with the running of the Daytona 500, and it was one for the record books. Only 45 minutes into the race and with less than 40 laps run, one of those infamous Florida thunderstorms, replete with two tornado warnings, moved in to put a halt to the action. More than six hours later the race was underway again and it was an exciting race indeed. Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the checkered flag, his second win at Daytona, following a losing streak of 55 races. It was also memorable in that he won the race with perhaps the most famous number in racing returning to the track, the #3, which had belonged to Dale Jr's father, himself killed in a seemingly casual crash at Daytona in 2001. BUT.... the return of the #3 car wasn't without controversy as rookie Austin Dillon made the race a game of survival out on the track. In total, Dillon was involved in three accidents, two of which he caused himself, taking out several cars. And, after a short stint of leading the pack, Danica Patrick was involved in a 12-car crash which resulted in an all-too-familiar nose into wall, bringing to mind that wretched day in 2001. It was a tremendous relief when she climbed out of that car under her own power. And for the haters out there: There wasnÂ’t a damn thing she could have done to avoid it.

And, also making their debut to great fanfare, the new Air Titan Track Drying System. Just how effective are they? See for yourself. Also making “news” was Jimmy Johnson’s non-win, as those not paying close enough attention failed to notice that, during the rain delay, Fox replayed the 2013 Daytona 500 in its entirety.

Full coverage of the race can be found HERE, but highlights are shown below.

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Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:46 AM | Comments (194)
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Here's an open thread to talk about politics.

To get you started, the Great Minds in my state of Utah have been screwing around trying to come up with a primary system that we can all agree on. They seem to have failed and instead have come up with something that no one will like.
more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:24 AM | Comments (58)
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This morning's open thread for non-book related discussions is brought to you by your great-grandpappy: more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:05 AM | Comments (48)
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