Yes, it is. My guess - Putin goes after the Baltics, knowing NATO can't (and won't) defend them. It's obviously a high risk strategy - but with a huge payoff. Once the precedent is set, the rest of eastern Europe will make accommodations, knowing the West won't fight for them.

As long as he has the FSB on his side, he can use the discontent to arrest his enemies and consolidate his rule, ala Stalin.

Russia has to stop after Ukraine, unless it breaks up NATO. (Which I think is possible - we're not starting WWIII over Latvia)

1. Get western Europe to sanction Russia.

IANAL, but parody and satire are clearly Fair Use.

Lada would be more worth saving if it built cars the way the Soviets built cameras - by exactly copying pre-WWII German designs. It works for Ural motorcycles.

Fifty years ago you'd definitely be right. Nowadays...?

"Dukes of Hazard" reference?

I always assumed it was Kraftwerk. Or maybe Neu!

In the States most were sold with a three speed automatic. That's why. But it's a sharp-looking car, no doubt.

Fair enough. By contemporary standards Nixon was on the far left, too.

I don't see Al Gore as liberal. Just not conservative. Dukakis is 26 years ago, so outside the specified time limit. (FTR, I see him as less conservative than Al Gore, though).

Plenty. I was mentally inserting the word "serious" in front "candidate. Bernie Saunders never stood a chance. Norman Thomas has no 21st century counterpart, alas.

There hasn't been a left-wing president or candidate in the last 25 years, so it's a moot point. I'll give you McGovern - he really did want to end Vietnam stat.

"You can tell the real pioneers by the arrows in their backs" is a pretty good aphorism.

It sure does, although it's much harder for a 19 year old to support a family than it used to be.

I was raised Fundy (Protestant); never heard anti birth-control in Church. (Plenty of "no pre-marital sex talk, though). Always assumed it was just a Catholic thing.

OTOH, I'm 53, and the only one of my friends who has a kid. (Or got married, for that matter.)

Yes. I really, really wanted to believe that our great-grandparents were high as kites, so it's possible my survey wasn't objective. Looking forward to your report.

Many years ago I read some turn of the century issues and was struck by how many ads there were for various drug addiction cures. Am I remembering selectively, or did you notice that too?