Well, if he was on the detail, he could have just been standing there the whole time working up the nerve.

That’s been the official report, but considering his dress and where he was standing, and how fast the report was made, I’m willing to bet that he was on the detail and the Turks are trying to save face.

I’m in the middle of nowhere, and will be serving as your resident Immortan Joe on this crazy train to hell.

That guy over Karlov’s shoulder (left in the photo) was the shooter: I don’t know if anyone has pointed this out, but I think this guy was actually part of the security detail.

The day is young.

The alliances made it likely, but not definitive. And well up to the last minute, diplomats in both blocs were trying to de esecalate the situation. No one saw the assassination turning into the Great War: they saw war as the most likely outcome ( while still trying to prevent it and save face), but not what the…

But it would have stayed a regional issue if the Great Powers didn’t begin making movements against each other. There was really no inkling at the time that what had happened would expand beyond the Balkans.

Really kind of a win win.

If you recall, however, everyone considered the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to be a regional issue u til it was not.

That would be the biggest understatement of the day.

I tend to be skeptical when people talk about World War Three starting...and then some days, I’m less skeptical.

I’m spreading the good word of St. Seth ‘I’ll Motherfuck You’ Bullock and St. Al ‘Heavy-Thumbed Cocksucker’ Swearengen.

Let’s just call them ‘hoopleheads.’ That’s a word that gets seriously underused. It can than parlance into the ‘cocksucking hoopleheads,’ which, let’s be frank, is just the sort of adjective that would cause these homophobic man-babies to flip their gourds.

There is a man named Alexandre Dugin whose policies have been followed to the letter by the Russian government. And they are succeeding at all of them. The next step in this grand strategy is instigating a trade war between China and the US, to allow Russia to gain global preeminence.

“Out of the woods, baby!”

Mother...fuck...me.

Thank you, kindly. I feel that we are actually going to have a better relationship after the divorce than prior to it (which doesn’t exactly make me feel better, but I’ll take what silver linings I can). I’ll take your advice to heart.

Not really; I think I kind of knew something like this was coming and convinced myself it wasn’t going to happen. When she asked, I deflated. I kept asking if there was nothing else we could do, but she’s already spent weeks agonizing over that. She’s set.

No kids.