Random Open Thread
A staggering number of troops are fat and tired, report says
A 2018 RAND report on health promotion and disease prevention has painted a grim picture of the military’s physical fitness and sleep standards.
The study, featuring roughly 18,000 randomly selected participants across each of the service branches, showed that almost 66 percent of service members are considered to be either overweight or obese, based on the military’s use of body mass index as a measuring standard.
While the number of overweight service members is a cause for concern, it correlates with the obesity epidemic plaguing the United States, where, as of 2015, one in three young adults are considered too fat to enlist, creating a difficult environment for recruiters to find suitable candidates for military service.
Broken down by service, the 2018 report lists the Army as the branch accounting for the highest percentage of overweight troops, with 69.4 percent of soldiers falling under this category.
The Army was followed by the Coast Guard (67.8 percent), Navy (64.6 percent), Air Force (63.1 percent) and Marine Corps (60.9 percent).
The full article is here: Military Times
*The F5 key is disabled on the Random Open Thread.
Category: "The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves"
First?
2rd!
3nd!
4st!
Random open threads (ROTs)are a smart addition. They satisfy both sides on the WOT and DOT issue. Whoever thought of this is State Dept material.
The percentages are so high because the fatties were easier to catch. All the fit guys were busy doing stuff.
Just returned with a dozen from Dunkin Donuts. Here’s hoping DoD embraces the fat acceptance movement, also known as fat activism or fativism. This social movement works to change attitudes towards fat people. Now is the time to recognize weightism as a social justice issue. Our all volunteer military should continue to mirror society at large.
All comments are made tongue-n-cheek between bites of chocolate frosted and jelly filled donuts washed down with a large sugar infused coffee.
DDs so pisses me off nowadays. The last few stops I made, I had to wait forever just to order one freakin’ regular coffee. The problem? Pumpkin latte, breakfast meals, and shit I can’t pronounce. Cripes, just give me a f’n coffee. If I want the pussified stuff, which I don’t, I’ll go to Starbucks, which I won’t–EVER.
Try McD’s. They have a drive-up window and fast service.
My local donut shop seems to cater to those of us who favor regular coffee. No hesitation in getting coffee, black, in a cup to the customer.
On the other hand, stopped in a joint in an obscure location yesterday and got a really, really good cuppa. It’s some sort of second hand store serving coffee and a few snacks. A distinctly odd concept but it worked for them. I will stop in again when in the neighborhood.
DD is pretty much pussified these days unfortunately.
You and Denis Leary should get together:
https://youtu.be/-f_dxLiuXuw
Never saw that before. Man, he nailed it, explaining that DDs got its name by offering coffee and donuts. ‘You took the donut. You dunked it in the coffee. And that was that.’
I cried when the cruller died.
Now they look like dog shit and they call them something else. It was not economically viable to pay someone to “twist” the dough, so now they just shit them out of a machine untwisted. Carpal tunnel syndrome lawsuits and workmans comp killed the cruller.
“I cried when the cruller died.”
I’m telling you, you are f’n killin’ me.
A long long time ago
I can still remember
How those donuts used to make me smile
And I knew that most every chance
They would make my palate dance
And I’d be oh so happy for awhile
When February made me shiver
A cuppa Joe would soothe my quiver
Donuts in my gut, then
I could do more workin
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about that widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the Cruller died
Do like your java hot
And do you love soy latte not
If your stomach tells you so
Now do you believe in Old Fashions
Or plain ol’ glazed AM rations
You know no one can eat those things real slow
Well I know that I’m in love with those
Just gimme some with my morning joes
No Boston Cremes?! Oh, no!
Today’s my day of woe!
I was a lonely teenage DD fan
Just looking for donuts fresh and tan
But I knew my day had been sh!tcanned
The day the Cruller died
I started singing
Bye bye, there’s no more blue sky
Tried to find me a Tim Hortons but there ain’t one nearby
So I’ll have to make my coffee and add me some rye
‘Cause
Today’s the day the Cruller has died
(smile)
I’m gonna have a stroke…
Good luck with Horton’s too. Almost nobody makes their donuts in house anymore.
Krispy Kreme does, at least the one near me makes them in house. They have the machine behind glass as so you can watch it go from raw materials to finished product.
Brilliant!
Nicely done, Hondo. Applause.
Hahahahaha!
McDonald’s stopped putting a full lid on their apple “pie”. it’s a lace crisscross now. It falls apart and lands in your lap… on the highway… when it’s still hot.
That was some good shit
This. Is. Genius.
Dang, dude. That’s pretty good!
Hondo, you are the balladeer bard of TAH. Kudos for that composition.
Dunkin’ at Houston Bush airport still has crullers… cold and stale. Damn, I miss the real things..
“Cold and stale”
Bear bait.
BLASPHEMERS!!!!!!!!!!!
Every time we went to visit my Wisconsin grandma, she made donuts for us. I miss her donuts something fierce.
My other grandma made pineapple upside down cake. I have that recipe. It is sinfully good.
Don’t know about the donut recipe, but they were fresh and sugary and good.
You, sir are on point.
There are few things I miss about Springfield, MA. Donut Dip is one.
Best. Donuts. EVER.
Connecticut Democratic Party nominee for Governor Ned Lamont is a douche.
-Nothing Follows-
Ok, I took a look.
Born in Washington DC
Attended Exeter Academy
Grand nephew of ACLU director Corliss Lamont
Yeah, he’s a douche.
You knew this was coming.
Perfect!
Yup!
The Jelly Doughnut Scene getting posted here today was as inevitable as a reference to ‘Top Gun’ in one of our aviation threads.
Good Morning America is running a series on “The Nicest Towns in America”. Today was Killeen, TX outside Ft. Hood. They literally spent the entire segment on one yoga studio. Although they did mention MAJ Hassan..
Should have gone to Arlen. Nice people and good deals on Propane.
boy howdy, I tell ya whut. We’re gonna beat those Belton Bobcats this year, whaddya say Bobby?
I saw a clip on the news this morning, some asshat reaching over a fence and stealing a puppy. I swear to God it was Dale Gribble.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2018/10/09/watch-dognappers-grab-puppy-mesquite-yard-speed-cadillac
Yep, that’s him.
Then, if the pup is returned, the owner should sue the basterd right into the ground.
You can’t have even a fenced yard around here without some pet owners deciding that if their dogs on walkies tease your dog on the inside of the fence, and your doggie gets all territorial and then gets hurt by the doggie on a leach on the sidewalk, it’s all YOUR fault.
Take the cotton-pickin’ DIET SODA out of the chow hall drinks and replace it with skim milk, iced/hot tea and coffee, juice and/or water.
Aspartame is a bigger source of obesity than anything else on the planet.
THIS! That aspartame is some bullshit.
I’ll let you know how much weight I’ve lost since I took that off my shopping list 3 years ago, end of 2015, when I go get my flu shot.
Leave the chocolate milk machines alone.
Back in ’71 when I went to basic, I was fat.
8 weeks later I was 60 pounds lighter.
Hell of a weight loss program.
I remember certain of you “big-boned” guys being escorted through the chow line at Fort Jackson, w/ the escort doing the ordering for the trainee.
And that’s what I don’t get about them saying a third of kids are too fat to enlist. Are they saying these kids are so fat they have heart, lung, or knee problems? Cause just being overweight doesn’t sound like a disqualifier to me. Unless they just don’t want to pay some fat ass an extra four weeks in the PT unit working themselves down.
We had a big fat guy, from New Jersey, in basic. The senior DI named him Big Fat Daddy. For whatever reason, BFD really wanted to stay in the Army and he worked his ass and everything else off to do it. They had to issue him new fatigues every week as he was losing weight bigtime.
He ended up as a recycle but it was only something like a two week program to complete Basic.
A lot of us were kind of proud of the guy’s commitment and determination. Hmmm, I vaguely recall that his name may have been Calcagny or a similar variant.
Congratulations on your own achievement, it takes a lot of work to lose 60 lbs!
I joined in 68 and, IIRC, gained 30-40 pounds. I had gone from 12 hours daily of slinging bags of fertilizer, lime, peat moss, etc. Navy boot isn’t exactly known to be physically demanding. Toughest part for me was getting out of the sack at 04-05. I freaking hate mornings.
My last PFT I barely made tape but did the mile and a half in about 9 minutes.
Good times.
My uncle was in the Great Lakes in the Winter of ’68… graduated more or less the same size, but gained an assload of weight on the submarines.
I think they call that “ballast”.
I gained weight in basic.
I lost about 20 lbs off my 180 lbs frame in Ranger School. When I arrived home on leave, my mother said I looked like I had escaped a WWII concentration camp. I told her that is exactly what I did.
Part of this problem is the absurdly old BMI Index chart that docs refuse to update.
Not to say troops aren’t heavier, but we are also taller, more muscular, and we have to carry more bullshit (that contractors bill DoD for) than our predecessors.
Last time I did ht/wt I was about 245 but my actual percentage of fat with the Army scale was 16%. But, according to this RAND study, I’m one of the fat people because I’m not a svelte 217lbs. I suppose if I lost a leg in Afghanistan I could make that weight?
Seems RAND is running low on ideas for “Studies” they can do and get paid for. Perhaps their time is short and they’re getting desperate for relevancy?
I’m sure the new crossfit test….I mean physical fitness combat test will help with that. Yep, sure. Totes Magoats.
“Not to say troops aren’t heavier, but we are also taller, more muscular, and we have to carry more bullshit (that contractors bill DoD for) than our predecessors.”
That has always been the problem with the BMI. It’s a classic bureaucrat solution, ie, it looks great on paper, but in reality … not so much.
The Gold Standard for the percentage of body-fat for an individual is a DEXA scan. A Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry scan is peerless in percent body-fat analysis. BMI isn’t even in the same league.
BMI is like the dating ad description:
“Height proportional to weight”
Yeah, and long walks on the beach.
Bingo. I was one of those guys who under the BMI would have been considered obese at 205 lbs. despite a 12 percent body fat and outstanding PRT scores.
I always hated the PT test. If I’m running 2 miles in combat, it isn’t combat, it’s a rout.
I believe the BMI was originally developed for insurance companies to use to calculate health insurance rates, based on age, height, and weight. That meant that someone who is muscular and can easily lift 250 pounds, stands 5’8″ tall and weighs 185 lbs, runs a mile in 9 minutes and has correct blood pressure, would be considered at risk for cardiac disease and his rates would be far higher than someone the same height but 30 pounds lighter with low muscle mass or none, unable to life more than 85 pounds comfortably, has a desk job and gets his exercise walking from the bus to the train.
Same age, same blood pressure, but because the more fit fellow is heavier due to muscle mass and not fat, he’s more of a risk than the skinny pencil pusher, which is a complete fallacy.
You are correct – this during the preexisting conditions world for individual health coverage. If you outside of the BMI your rate was much higher or you didn’t get health coverage.
Was just in the car w/ the radio on and was hearing Chris Plante talking about Maryland Gov Larry Hogan’s commercial. It features his Democratic (Socialist) opponent, a clown named Ben Jealous. The video shows Jealous addressing some union organization, asking their support so that he can be the next governor of Virginia! Another clip has Jealous saying that he will remove Hogan from the White House! Yet a third has Jealous proclaiming that, if elected, he will become the nation’s first black president. Needless to say, RINO Hogan is well in front of Jealous who called the Hogan ad “bullying.” Cripes. Where does the Left dig these buffoons up?
ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!????
Yeah, we all know the first black president was Bill Clinton. 🙄
The very fact Jealous is running sends chills up my spine. He’s left of his mentor Martin OWE’Malley and offers the usual standard ‘free stuff’, raise taxes, grab guns, and he’s dumb as a box of rocks.
Hogan is no prize by a long shot- at least he’s able to slow some of the Dem’s stupider ideas.
Couple more years and I’ll shake the dust of the PDRofMD from my boots.
I thought this douchebag’s mentor was Al Sharpton. Don’t forget that it was under Ben Jealous’ reign as director that the NAACP degenerated from a liberal but-still-mainstream civil rights organization into the radical fringe group it is today…
I vacated Montgomery County in August, 2000 after a 25 year stint. I remember when Hogan’s father was a pretty decent County Executive… but that was while living in Takoma Park.
If Maryland should ever recover they will have to get rid of Mike Miller.
But I like beer!
Beer is good food.
It is indeed. It once saved my life. But that’s a long, boring story.
Agree with all above comments, though one possible contributing factor (a closer look at the numbers in elite units would confirm or debunk this idea) is that BMI is a horrible measurement to use, because all it does it compare weight to height. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at the height of his career would have been considered morbidly obese, with a body fat percentage of less that 3… BMI is a quick and easy method, which is why the military uses it, but it does not take into account that an individual with an above average muscle mass will show as fat.. Fat percentage is a much more accurate method.
That being said, I’d guess that the number of actual fatties is still way above what it should be…
Prayers up for all our friends in Michael’s path. Hope your time away from home is uneventful and that your return to discover nothing too bad has happened to your stuff. For those staying, keep your heads down.
The USAF is second fittest behind the USMC? Let’s hear your chair force jokes now, fatties. 😉
🙂
We really don’t need to hear about the USAF and filthy behinds. That’s just disgusting.
Second skinniest, not second fittest. I’m surprised they aren’t the skinniest because, as everyone knows, pencil necked geeks are usually skinny. 🙂
Well, my smiley face didn’t show up on that comment.
Tyndall AFB is getting pounded
I spent some time on Google Earth looking at what is going to be destroyed today.
Towering condos on the beach.
And it will all be Trumps fault.
Or Kavanaugh. Or global warming.
Hack Stone found a $1 bill on the Level 4 parking garage of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center this morning. If this dollar belongs to you, please remit $179 for expedited handling to return your funds.
And the reason certain people we are not to call Oriental wear masks everywhere is what, to protect them or to protect others?
Hack Stone may be wondering why my question was presented as a resply to his comment. The answer is:
a) I f’ed up
b) I f’ed up
c) I f’ed up
d) None of the above or All of the above
e) “Some of the Above.”
Multiple choice tests are a breeze once you crack the code.
f) 2/17 is human, despite being Air Cav.
I don’t that I like being called human. I prefer Animal X.
What if he identifies as an Apache attack helicopter?
g)2/17 is a loving, sweet, soulful sort of fellow whose idea of a good time is to put some headbanger music on the stereo and zone out on chocolate sundaes with whipped cream.
I have been beefing for years about the Supreme Court legislating. It is wrong and it is patently unconstitutional. But there it is. Whether it’s abortion or its same-sex marriage or any one of a number of pronouncements by a majority of the lawyers in black robes, their role in our system does not include writing law. But they do, and the Left knows this well. It’s why the Left has altogether lost its shit over the Kavanaugh seating and it is why they are strategizing to unseat him and are now attacking the court itself. It’s as if they just learned about the separation of powers and the co-equal branches. The Left can rarely get its agenda effected without legislating judges, be they Supreme Court lawyers or Circuit Ct lawyers. Of course, they have known these things all along but had no problem with any of it so long as their side was doing the bench legislating. My take, if you don’t know or can’t guess, is that no judge or justice should be effectively writing law. If The People wanted same-sex marriage, for instance, The People would have opted for it across the country. That didn’t happen so it was imposed by judicial fiat. Whether you agree with same-sex marriage or not isn’t the point: the point is that it should not have happened as it did, not under our constitutional system, anyway. The same is true for other issues and matters. And one of these days, this shit has to cease. It can cease by the court’s constraining itself or it can occur by Congress doing its job. It can also occur by amendment pushed forward by the states. Until one of those things happens, the most powerful branch of gov’t will remain the judiciary. And that, my friends, is tyranny.
(d) All of the above.
Word
I’m with you, brother. Kennedy was my Con Law professor. I was dumbfounded when he found the Equal Proctection Clause required legalizing so-called gay marriage. His decision totally contradicts how he taught us this Constitutional
Provision should be be applied.
So, Hawaii is now tracking down AirBnB owners that don’t pay lodging taxes.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/39043083/hawaii-heads-to-court-to-get-info-on-airbnb-owners-who-arent-paying-taxes/
Normally, I’d view thi as a bad thing but, in this case….
…our favorite grifter act-a-like, stolen valor thief, balls worker, taint taster, and mother money stealing Alaska Elder Fraud settlement chump, Adam Appel of Pahoa, HI and Anchorage, AK, also apparently is a Hawaii AirBnB host. Hawaii online tax records indicate that the house is owned by Adam Appel and his *ahem* “beautiful” squaw.
https://es.airbnb.com/rooms/13863011?adults=1&children=0&infants=0&s=xdQ7wEot (note the comments about the owner, Adam, and his photo appears in the owner photos)
With 7 bedrooms close to the beach, running a street medic non-profit (registered to the same address) must be VERY lucrative. Of course there is always the possibility of all this being ill-gotten gains from a guy that has little education, no family money other than than that sued for by hi mother in Elder Fraud court, a flimsy job history, and an outdoor “bouncy house” rental business in the year round window of available climate in Anchorage, AK.
Such a stand-up guy means that, of course, he’s paying his lodging taxes on his AirBnB rental and claiming the business that he’s running out of the same property. I guess that only time will tell….
I wouldn’t be surprised if the tax authorities and IRS have already received a packet but what do I know
Holden
Not sure if I saw it, heard it, or read it here in the past couple of days, but it was wonderful that the entire Supreme Court showed up for Kavanaugh’s ceremonial swearing in at the White House on Monday. Evidently they have not done that before. They seem to want to project strength and unity.
Exactly. The country needed for them to show a unified front and that’s what they delivered. The most powerful messages are sometimes made by just showing up.
I noticed that Kavanugh repeatedly referred to “nine” and “team of nine” in his comments at his swearing-in.
Almost like a shot across the bow for all those advocating packing the court with two additional members, upon the next Donk opportunity.
Such “packing” would be a stupid thing for them to do, because if 11 works for Donks, why not 17 under the next Elephant?
First of the ROTs, eh? Well, here’s an earlier column of mine. This one hails from 22 March 2017, and was the 20th column I wrote. (I chose it at random.) It still shows the “early” in my professional newspaper career, but I like it and I hope you do too. DID YOU KNOW … ? How was actress Jayne Mansfield able to decorate her “Pink Palace” for free? By Commissioner Wretched It’s funny, sometimes, how quickly time passes. Let’s take this column, for an example. I write this column every Thursday, after finishing the layouts of the various newspapers that we produce. Over the course of the last couple of months, it feels as if I’ve just finished a Did You Know column when, suddenly … BANG. It’s Thursday again and time to write the next one. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining, not at all. Of all the parts of my work here that are fun and enjoyable, though, this column is the most fun and most enjoyable, so if my life is moving a little faster (at least my perception of it), it simply means that it’s time to write again. I love that. I also love hearing from you, and want to thank all of you who take the time to e-mail me your thoughts. If you want to join those who already have: suggested a trivia item, caught me in an error (just once so far), or commented on the column, send a note via e-mail to me at didyouknowcolumn@gmail.com and I’ll reply. Let’s get to the trivia … time is flying fast! Did you know … … squirrels have no color vision? They see everything in shades of gray. They more than make up for that, though, with the fact that everything in their field of vision – front, peripheral, everything – is in perfect focus. Humans and most other animals only have perfect focus in front of them. … Australia celebrates Christmas in the summer? Of course, they celebrate it on December 25th, but that is three days after the beginning of summer… Read more »
Now I know!
Those super squirrel skills make great emotional support animals too!
Bwahahahaha
Emotional support squirrel
We have a white squirrel in town, by the dog park. White as snow.
Here’s something else about squirrels:
When you see fat squirrels in the winter, those are the females. All of the fat squirrels are females. They are all fat because they are all pregnant.
And yes, they will eat everything, including suet, and will come to the bird feeding area if you call the birds. Too smart for their own good.
Smart? Squirrel on side of road. Buick coming down the road. Squirrel waits…waits…waits and, as the Buick nears, squirrel runs under Buick’s tire.
Smart about food, not about cars. Sorry I was not clear on that.
“… former President Jimmy Carter is a speed reader? He reads at a rate of about 2,000 words per minute.”
Could it be that old Jimmy is the only person to have completely read the Affordable Care Act?
10 October 1845 – Happy Birthday to the US Naval Academy. Today in 1845 the Naval School, now known as the Naval Academy, opened in Annapolis, Maryland with 50 midshipmen and seven professors. The first superintendent, Commander Franklin Buchanan, would later become an admiral in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War and command the Confederate forces at Mobile Bay, Alabama. Today there are approximately 4576 midship, more than 500 Civilian and greater than 600 Military faculty at the Naval Academy. Vice Admiral Walter E. “Ted” Carter Jr. is the current and 62nd superintendent of the Naval Academy. Additionally more than 83,000 men and women have graduated from the Academy
Commander Franklin Buchanan was the commanding officer of the CSS Merrimack (Virginia) during it’s fight with the USS Monitor (he was wounded in battle).
It seems that Al Gore, the inimitable robotlike public speaker whose mellifluous tones and mainstream ideas have invaded the media with movies and stuff, has now decided to promote and support a new candidate for the upcoming Congressional elections.
This candidate IS somewhat unusual, because she is not just a different race, but a different species altogether. She is, in fact, a penguin. And he wants us to vote for her. I kid you not.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/10/10/al-gore-endorses-a-fictional-penguin-for-congress-yes-really/
I was under the impression that while dogs could run for mayor, they have to actually exist. So this is not only a penguin, but a nonexistent penguin.
Someone should lock him up and keep the key out of his reach.
If anyone ever needed sex robot it would be Al-Gore.
Man-Bear-Pig at it again?
John Giduck – the turd with a face!
Cori LeCinda Pierce – the turd who defrauds with a dog!
“They will eventually get it out of their systems”
She doesn’t know us very well.
Chinese Intelligence Officer Arrested For Allegedly Spying On US Aviation Companies
The Department of Justice announced it had arrested and charged a Chinese intelligence officer with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets from U.S. aviation and aerospace companies, according to a news release.
Yanjin Xu, a senior operative with China’s Minister of State Security, was arrested in Belgium on April 1 and extradited to the U.S. on Tuesday, the release said.
“This indictment alleges that a Chinese intelligence officer sought to steal trade secrets and other sensitive information from an American company that leads the way in aerospace,” Assistant Attorney General Demers said in the release.
“This case is not an isolated incident. It is part of an overall economic policy of developing China at American expense. We cannot tolerate a nation’s stealing our firepower and the fruits of our brainpower. We will not tolerate a nation that reaps what it does not sow.”
Xu “targeted certain companies inside and outside the United States that are recognized as leaders in the aviation field” to include GE Aviation, which specializes in aircraft engines, according to the indictment.
He also “identified experts who worked for these companies and recruited them to travel to China, often initially under the guise of asking them to deliver a university presentation. Xu and others paid the experts’ travel costs and provided stipends,” it added.
According to The Washington Post, the case is linked to last month’s arrest of 27-year-old Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese citizen living in Chicago, who was arrested for allegedly passing information to what the DOJ called a “high-level intelligence officer” with the MSS.
Xu faces a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment for economic espionage charges and 10 years for charges pertaining to theft of trade secrets.
Instead of giving them our most sensitive information we now make them work for it? What a concept. Then actually arrest them for trying to take it? Wow!
Hey! Has the FBI finished that investigation I demanded a few days ago? Don’t remember what it was, or when it was. Or even if anything criminal was involved, but what difference does that make anyway?
Somebody somewhere did something even though nobody saw it and I want it investigated. Right now. Because, you know, I am, like, special.
I think I believe you!
And I want a rally. With hats.
I would like very much if someone explained something to me. Seriously. You likely read about the Saudi journalist who was called into that nation’s embassy in Turkey. He never came out of there, it appears, and it is said that a hit squad killed him in the embassy and probably carried him out in pieces, perhaps in diplomatic pouches. Anyway, what I would like explained is why we give a shit. Trump has spoken about. L. “Found my lost balls” Graham says that there will be hell to pay if suspicions pan out. Why?
Maybe it’s just the US citizen being mistreated thing? Although, voluntarily entering foreign territory makes one subject to that nation’s way of doing things. Why he went is anyone’s guess.
It’s not like he was minding his own business, kidnapped and taken to a foreign country.
He was a Saudi national. Asw I understand it, he did some pieces for the WaPo and that’s his only US connection.
That does rather change the story. I missed that part – all I’d heard until now was “a WaPo journalist.” That’s whacha get for assuming stuff.
Maybe the real explanation is that your buddy L. Graham made the same erroneous assumption I did. (Were we carefully led in that direction?)
I have seen the articles and was wondering the same. The only connection I saw was the WaPo byline as well.
I don’t condone any country executing its citizens without due process. This sounds like something right up the UN’s alley. They should probably look into it. 😉
OK. There’s more info out there.
Supposedly the guy went into the embassy or consulate or whatever to get a marriage license leaving his intended outside. He’s not been seen since, but a group of Saudi thugs arrived and left while she was waiting.
All that doesn’t really sound like any of our business. But, in the ongoing dance between us and our supposed ally Saudi Arabia, this could be the excuse needed to cut the cord with them. Do we condone such behavior and continue to consider their country our ally? Maybe not, now that our oil reserves are greater than theirs.