“You can pull your troops out, as President Obama learned the hard way out of Iraq, but the ‘enemy gets the vote’ as we say in the military. And in this case, if we don’t keep the pressure on, then ISIS will resurge. It’s absolutely a given that they will come back.”

Former Defense Secretary James “Mad Dog” Mattis

Good to know. We all miss those guys. Gosh, I just hope their comeback works out better than that reboot of Twin Peaks.

It was tested successfully on the Russian section of the ISS.

“It’s one small nibble for man, one giant bite for mankind”

One of the developers pointed out that creating meat was the easy part. The hard part was creating a Russian word for “meat.” It has never really come up before. Apparently the new word translates back into English as “animal cabbage.”

We pretty much already knew this, since we knew that he talked to Trump in between two of his text messages, but “Sondland’s testimony will raise the possibility that Trump wasn’t truthful.”

Trump might have lied? That’s not the Donald Trump I know! 

It’s only true that the president said it, not that it was the truth.

Gordon Sondland, US Ambassador to Europe, to a colleague

“The statement that Rudy was demanding was a quid pro quo for a White House visit, there was no doubt about that. By Sept. 9, Sondland had grown increasingly concerned, as military funding for Ukraine now appeared tied to the statement as well. “

But …

Sondland “somehow wants all of us to believe that he is ‘shocked, shocked’ that anything he was wrapped up in was aimed at the Bidens. That beggars belief.” 

Here’s a quick summary of what seems to be Sondland’s position.

  • I knew that the Burisma investigation was a quid pro quo for the White House visit
  • I began to suspect that the Burisma investigation was also a quid pro quo for military aid.
  • However, I was not aware that Burisma had anything to do with Biden.

This position may be true, but needless to say, it is raising some eyebrows.

Top 25 round-up

Texas/OU weekend was more chaotic and violent than usual, and this time it was not on the streets of Austin. Both teams were charged with unsportsmanlike conduct penalties before the game even began. Two of the officials were hit in the process. When the game finally got started, it was #6 Oklahoma all the way. The final score sounds close (34-27), but the Sooners never trailed in the process of amassing 500 yards from scrimmage and holding the Texas passing offense below 200. What was the name of the Oklahoma defensive co-ordinator who stole Christmas from the #11 Longhorns? Grinch.

Speaking of defense. #8 Wisconsin cruised to its fourth shutout of the year. They seem to be tuned up well for their big game in a couple of weeks against THE Ohio State University, with the winner very likely to make the playoff.

#3 Georgia found out just what a tough town the SEC is. They lost to a South Carolina team that came into the game 2-3.

#5 LSU broke free in the second half to hand #7 Florida its first loss.