The old classic anecdote that described “chutzpah” was some psycho that offed his parents, then threw himself on the mercy of the Court since he was now an orphan.  We have a NEW one.

The Upper Midwest (Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska) is where I first ran into this regional establishment known as (drum roll...) “Kum and Go”.  I jest not. Of course, maybe when it was started, less folks had “dirty” minds.

The very fact that you describe going to TX and especially Beaumont as “leaving civilization behind”, and describing the typical patrons of a Buc-ee’s as “riff raff”, says a LOT more about YOU than about them, and it ain’t GOOD.  Stay back in “New Yawk” or “Joisy”, or whatever place is unfortunate enough to be…

Never ran into one that you had to wait for a toilet or urinal, and never dirty or smelly.  Now, at times in the gas pump islands, the “boids” have left their calling cards, and the janitorial staff gets behind with the pressure washer.  Or maybe they should call Alfred Hitchcock.

It was a “thing” about a half century ago.  Kinda like the former Nut Tree on I-80 between Sacramento and San Francisco.  Had its day.

On I-10, certainly.  On I-20, there is Midland and Odessa, two nicely-sized cities with very much a character of their own.  However, West Texas is fairly much...EMPTY.  As is most of the USA in that range of longitudes, with Lubbock, Amarillo, North Platte, and Rapid City being about all there is in the west Plains. …

IDK why Buc-ee’s has “drunk the Kool-Aid” with respect to those engineering disasters on four wheels.  If driving those rolling bombs is your thing, hey, more power to ya, literally, but it rankles me that MY tax dollars subsidize a politically correct “toy” for folks typically of better than average means, the same…

You just supplied ever the more reason to patronize Buc-ee’s. Of course, it’s mainly the BBQ, the kitsch is ok, and at least they have a decent selection of rubs and sauces, as well as all the snack foods you shouldn’t shovel down, but nothing you can’t find at a “HEB” (properly pronounced spelling it out, i.e.,…

I agree that the M1A3 Abrams, if ever built, should be a diesel-engined job. Why we can’t negotiate a license for the excellent German MTU diesel powering the Leopard 2A7 is beyond me. If nothing else, should we actually have to fight alongside them in Europe, nothing like having a common powerpack.

They won’t lack for coffins on tracks to burn with the bodies of the poor Russian boys barbecuing inside them.

Agree about ‘winning’ on the battlefield but LOSING where it counted...in the perception that the war was ‘unwinnable’ (it was quite winnable) and not worth the effort and American lives, the Communists succeeded wildly, thanks to Walter Cronkite et al. You might say the Commies won the “Battle of the Six O’Clock…

But you can’t usually win WITHOUT air power, either. Just ask the Waffen-SS. Since Generals Patton and Zhukov and their respective boys killed most of ‘em off, you’ll need to do a seance.

The Russians, in putting the TC in the hull, are ignoring one of his fundemental roles: Stick his fool head outside the turret hatch, ready with the “Ma-Duece” (or DHSK for the Russkies), and WATCH for 16-y.o. kids with RPGs! Methinks once those T-14s go into a built-up combat area they’re going to be easily picked…

Completely agree. It should be kept in mind that the M1 Abrams was the outgrowth of the (failed) MBT-70 project, itself an outgrowth of an attempt to design a common MBT for NATO back in the 1960s (the German/Pan-European follow-on, the EuroPanzer, was also a flop, but then West Germany did develop the excellent…