Ken Gargett

you take one flight...

no argument.

looking at all this from the perspective of diversions involving cuba and others, so as not to go down paths inappropriate, it started before the arrest in 2019 with epstein and very suspicious deals with acosta. this and the arrest was in trump's first term. then came prosecution of maxwell and subsequent appeals. this was during the previous administration. investigations relating to all this were only shut down by trump in june or july last year, from memory. while this is going on (the appeals, investigations, statements from witnesses and so on), it was considered inappropriate and potentially prejudicial and even likely to adversely affect the case against maxwell by providing her with further and likely successful grounds for appeal should files be released. and it just isn't done at this stage. the dept of justice, or any such entity (assuming them competent and not simply one man's private law firm), does not go around releasing files before a matter is concluded. in addition, as the previous white house has explained, they believed in the seperation between the office of the president and the justice dept. as they should. sadly, not everyone does. invading Cuba? as for it being a stretch, really? politicians the world over have used diversions to cover problems. many believed that thatcher declared war on argentina, not to save a few sheep on a far distant rock, but to take attention away from her failing popularity at the time. if so, it worked. i always liked thatcher but she was a politician. it would be fair to say that the current incumbent of the white house does not do diversions, simply because there is so much going on that some might feel he'd need them daily. who really knows. but a lot of things seem to happen when the focus is very much on the latest chaos. attention now on Cuba could easily be more of the same. we've seen it before. one exampple among many. it really is a bit difficult to see the actions of bombing small boats allegedly because of the drugs issue as anything more than yet one more diversion, very much along these lines. the size of these boats mean they need to carry an estimated 950 gallons of fuel to get to the US (not much room for all the alleged drugs left), the US coast guard/navy have already identified them and if they really were headed to the US or an interim site, could easily intervene and arrest them. they are supposedly being bombed to prevent fentenol arriving in the states. venuezla makes about as much fentenol as i do. fentenol basically comes originally from china. yet not a word about stopping that. and if they were genuine about drugs, why pardon a guy who sent literally tonnes of drugs into the US? and on and on. so yes, if/when the epstein files issue builds again, i can see a diversion, whether it be Cuba, china, iran, another city like Minneapolis, a prize ceremony, a movie, who knows. not a big leap. but to go further might see us transgressing FoH rules.

didn't know about the settings - i simply clicked on and they started giving me stats. will have to see if i can make it harder. that would be interesting.

three is doing well, four is verging on a fail but an acceptable pass, five is embarrassing and six mortifying. but things happen. my three's were ahead of the five's until recently. now a few behind. like my two's to equal six's but i don't see that happening. my four's lead the way. my aim is to get to the 100 in a row. missing at 99 still irks. currently 84. will try some of these new ones as well.

thanks

all for dismantling the Cuban govt and ridding the people of the bastards who run it, but what on earth will happen to the people while this happens? is the US more interested in making a splash internationally or in the genuine wellfare of the Cuban people (take a wild guess)? to be honest, hate to say this as it does affect the ordinary people, i would not be going near the place at the moment. if bombs start dropping, they won't discriminate.

we still talking about Cuba?

there is a good way?

wondering if anyone else does the daily wordle puzzle in the NYT? my sisters put me on to it. a bit of fun, does not take long and a good way to get the brain working. record for me is 99 days. missing the 100th seriously pissed me off. back to 85 but suspect they will stuff me again on 100. never got it in one guess (a reasonable number of two guesses, though most take morre - you get up to six before you are out) but i know a couple of people who have. but today, not sure if i am pissed or embarrassed. for those who don't know it, you need to ascertain their five letter word each day. this morning, i go from the cigar forum to the game. now, what would be a good five letter word. i start with decoy or something like that. bugger me, turns out to be (and spoiler alert) cigar. got it within the limit but feel like an idiot. if ever i should have got it in one...

agree re making the US admin look worse (although why would you bother wasting your time - the US is doing a bang up job of that themselves). not so much the theatre comment. china has its eye very firmly on Taiwan and poking the bear in the US backyard provides a distraction but also tests the waters. what they are witnessing with Ukraine and elsewhere must give them great confidence that the time to make a move to reunite Taiwan is fast approaching. if providing support, oil or otherwise, to Cuba ties up the US then why not? quite seriously, at the moment, it might be the epstein files which are saving taiwan. when the oval office needs its next diversion to take the focus away from the contents of the files, a dust-up with china would be about the best diversion one could imagine (or perhaps they will just find the next Minneapolis - or ramp things up with Cuba). and i suspect we all know that the oval office would put its own interests (and i do not mean the interests of the country) ahead of supporting taiwan.

one lives in hope that some form of sanity will prevail. yes, i know, chances are not good. you are probably right. can't get much worse. although we have thought that about places before.

years ago, i used to be excellent for blood pressure and cholesterol. then the life style stuffed the cholesterol. was at 8 for a while. a new and excellent doctor did a full examination and investigation into the lifestyle (i go fishing in Cuba once a year with my mates and drink too much and smoke way too many cigars. do you enjoy it? yes. then don't stop). when it came to the cholesterol, i was given a choice. a complete lifestyle renovation or a little pill (crestor) once a day. pill it is. been lucky that i have never had any side effects. within six weeks, i was under 4. been 3 to 4 ever since, as far as i am aware. the doc also asked me if i took any vitamins, supplements etc. vitamin B, milk thistle etc. he suggested i gather them all up and dump them in the bin and use the money to buy better red wine. loved that Doc! as for weight loss, lord it gets harder and harder as you get older. realised in August 24 when i got back from a fishing trip that i was ridiculously overweight. currently 18 kilos down from that. hard work. i really thought that i would have lost more. aim is down 25 by the same trip this year.

alec guinness definitely.

attacking vessels from other nations in international waters will really add to the stability of the region and enhance the status of the US around the globe. perhaps one of the crew will be found to have a little pot in his pocket, so they will be able to justify it. not that i have any fondness for the communists at all, but sometimes the bigger picture can be useful or will the US be taking control there as well?