Hi there. It’s just past noon on Sunday, March 28, 2021, and here in New Hometown, Florida it is a warm, sultry day. Currently, the temperature is 84˚F (29˚C) under mostly cloudy skies; with humidity at 66% and the wind blowing from the south-southwest at 14 MPH (22 KM/H), the heat index is 86˚F (30˚C). Today, the forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a high of 87˚F (31˚C). Tonight we can expect partly cloudy skies and a low of 70˚F (21˚C).

I planned on continuing my series of My Favorite Movies of the (X Decade) today, but last night the Caregiver’s middle son had friends over in his loft until 2:30 AM. I don’t know what the hell they were doing up there, nor do I care, but for several hours I heard loud noises from the upstairs part that is Middle Kid’s domain. They stomped around like a herd of wild elephants and even moved furniture around as if it were past noon rather than ‘round midnight.

 As a result, whatever drowsiness I felt when I went to bed last night vanished PDQ, and even though the gaggle of college-age kids left a bit after 2:30 AM, I was wide awake until sometime after 4 AM.

I had brunch – one fried egg, two croissants, and three cups of coffee – a little over an hour ago, so I’m at least able to cobble together at least one coherent blog post. However, because creating those My Favorite Movies of the (X Decade) posts take me – literally – over an hour, I will just do one of those “potpourri” posts instead.

After the Assault on the Capitol (U.S. Politics): She’s Baaaack!

Remember Jennifer Leigh Ryan (AKA Jenna Ryan), the Dallas-area Realtor who flew to Washington, DC on a private plane to participate in the January 6 “Stop the Steal” protest by Donald Trump’s supporters that turned into a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol?   She was arrested in Texas by the FBI and is currently facing four Federal charges as a result of her participation in the Capitol breach that left five people dead. Presently, Ryan is accused of:

• Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building
• Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building
• Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building
• Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building

Ryan’s behavior over the past three months has been, shall we say, erratic. She has a pricey defense attorney (Guy Womack, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who specializes in both military law and federal criminal defense cases), but one wonders how the heck she’s going to afford it. She claims that she doesn’t need financial assistance, yet she has tried four different online donation campaigns on sites like PayPal, GoFundMe, and the right-wing friendly Christian GiveSendGo, all of which have closed her fundraisers down.[1] She claims that she’s doing well as a real estate broker and that business in her area has never been better.

The weird thing about Jenna, though, is that she activates and deactivates her Twitter account at random, sometimes leaving it “deactivated” for weeks at a time. Then, when we think Oh well, maybe Jenna’s going to finally shut the f—k up and stop incriminating herself, she comes back with a Trumpian Twitterstorm.

As you probably guessed by now, Insurrectionist Barbie is back on Twitter after one of those sulky silent breaks she takes from her social media account. And as always, she keeps digging a deeper hole for herself on Twitter.

Consider these latest of Jenna’s “Greatest Tweets”:

Jenna Ryan @dotjenna

·Mar 26

Trump is telling the truth!!! CNN is lying. The so-called rioters–myself included–were chatting with police officers, talking and taking selfies.

Jenna Ryan @dotjenna Mar 26

I should be supported by alt right media outlets, however, I am being left to the vultures of the Left. It’s pretty sad that Infowars or The Gateway Pundit has totally avoided my story, while every MSM outlet on the planet is asking for a statement. Quite obvious glass ceiling.

Jenna Ryan@dotjenna Mar 27

Well if this past election fiasco had to happen in order to be a catalyst for change in future election integrity, then I guess it was worth it. No more mail-in ballot & voter ID needs to become a reality and no more private funding of public elections. #voterintegrity

And even though Ryan has a few fans, most of the Twitter community is not having any of it.

 

Kevin Fry (blue check mark) @kevinmfry Mar 27 Replying to @dotjenna

I am confused. What happened to “I bought into a lie” and “I regret everything”? Were you just repeating something that your lawyer told you to say?

Richard Keaveney @rkwwilmington Mar 27 Replying to @dotjenna

Oh honey. We are bout ready to have federal election law to thwart the Jim Crow state election laws being passed. Even Manchin is aboard. Enjoy!

Richard Mitchell @Richard41889474 Mar 27 Replying to @dotjenna

Mail-in ballots were fine for years when Republicans pushed for it; no problems at all. However, it’s fraud now that people of color used the process, right? OMFG. Even faux attorney Powell is being honest about the lies told, now that she has to defend herself in court.

Mind you, this is just a sampling of the responses Ryan received on that last tweet I quote above.

How much would you care to wager that Jenna’s Twitter account will soon go dormant, at least for a few weeks?

Old Gamers Never Die: Trying Out Some of the Other Missions on ‘Cold Waters’

As you know, I recently discovered – through watching YouTube playthroughs of Cold Waters – that my current favorite game has more than eight Single Missions, including some engagements that put you in command of either Soviet or Chinese attack subs in scenarios set either in North Atlantic 1984 or South China Sea 2000.

So far, I’ve tried out three – one that involves the use of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs) against Chinese targets in the Paracel Islands, one that pits a US sub against a Typhoon-class ballistic missile boat (SSBN) and two fast attack sub escorts, and one that puts me in the control room of a Soviet Charlie class cruise missile sub (SSGN) against a NATO convoy.

I completed all three missions the first time I tried them out, although I don’t particularly enjoy playing Cold Waters on the “Red Team.” First, it just seems wrong to play Cold Waters as an adversary of the US, even though it’s only a game and I’m not killing any of my compatriots “for real.”  Second, Cold Waters only has a few U.S. ships and aircraft in its NATO-as-adversary missions, so even though it’s difficult to beat US warships in Cold Waters, it can be done.

I prefer to play as the US, though, so I’ve been playing Stalking the Red Bear (just imagine The Hunt for Red October but with its skipper fully on the enemy side) and Strike from the Sea. Thus far, I’ve won all of my battles in the former scenario and lost only one in the latter one. I even got an awesome screenshot of a damaged Typhoon cruising on the surface near the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, near the Arctic Ocean late last night.

Well, as I said earlier, I’m tired from a rather long and sleepless night, so I’ll close for now. So until tomorrow, Dear Reader, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.

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[1] I’m not sure why GiveSendGo closed Ryan’s fundraiser, or if Ryan closed it herself. The last time that I saw it “live” online, the “Free Jenna” campaign had somehow raised $700. However, on Twitter we were told by someone with hacking skills that Ryan had donated $300 to her own campaign.

Sources: Jenna Ryan’s Twitter feed (when it’s not deactivated, anyway)