Stories below the fold

The IG report is too long to read for normal people, but here is a list of a couple of problems that raise eyebrows....

but it doesn't matter what's in the report, because the spin will be this:

11. FBI’s Insulting Response

FBI Director Christopher Wray gave a press conference in front of a compliant press corps where he said, “nothing in this report impugns the integrity of our workforce as a whole or the FBI as an institution.” In fact, the report paints a picture of an FBI with a problematic culture.

It’s not just Comey’s usurpation of authority and failure to comply with practices. Multiple people were involved in his condemned decisions. Others were cited for bad judgement in recusal decisions or failure to adhere to recusals. Political bias was rampant in the team of people who handled both the Clinton and Trump email probes. So were leaks, accepting gifts from reporters, incompetence, and other problems.

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AnnAlthouse notes: Harvard justified discriminating against Asian Americans because they weren't likable enough.

Presumably this meant they were polite.

nytimes link

And in the past, they discriminated against Jewish Americans because they were too "pushy",

(and to explain why women, blacks, and Catholics were discriminated against, place stereotype here).

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DavidReneke: Get out your telescopes (or in our case, our binoculars) and check out Mars.
If you wake up before dawn, you can’t help noticing Mars burning through the morning twilight with a distinctive orange glow....

What’s happening? Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter–the best one in 15 years. On July 27th, Mars will be at opposition. Oppositions of Mars happen roughly every 2 years, but this one is special. It is a “perihelic opposition.” Mars will be near perihelion, its closest approach to the sun. Perihelic oppositions also bring Mars extra-close to Earth.

dang: We had a "brownout" shortly before dawn today (usually they switch from the older electric lines to the new ones they have been putting up at 4 am so as not to disturb folks)..., so I should have gone out and checked, except it is cloudy right not.

in other space news: A duststorm could damage the Opportunity Rover on Mars. 

Space.com adds:

For fans of "The Martian" novel by Andy Weir, or the film based on that book, the answer may be a disappointment. Storms on Mars aren't quite as dramatic as the book or the film adaptation portray them to be. While Martian winds at the planet's surface can reach up to about 60 mph (about 97 km/h), this is less than half the speed of some hurricane winds here on Earth and probably not strong enough to rip apart or tip any major equipment, NASA officials said in a statement. [Mars Dust Storm 2018: How It Grew & What It Means for Opportunity]

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I hear they are planning a Top Gun remake.

things have changed a bit in 30 years, but hey, who worries about air to air missiles when you have Tom Cruise? (/s)

So if you want to learn how to "dogfight", the Naval Institute blog has an article about it here, and they actually have a photo of that famous Tom Cruise upside down maneuver being done by actual naval aviators.

heh.
I have a son in law who is a Naval Aviator, but since he is too tall to fly jets, he flies helicopters instead.

Which explains why uber-short leading men like Tom Cruise could actually be jet pilots.
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TORN has two articles about the upcoming Amazon series on LOTR. LINK LINK2

hopefully they won't allow political correctness to destroy the series. On the other hand, they do let Jeremy Clarkson to be non PC, so there is hope.