Douglas E. Berry

A rant follows. You have been warned.

The recently-sunk Russian ship Moskva is being described all over the place as a battleship. It was not a battleship, it was a guided missile cruiser.

Naval nomenclature is precise and important. What you call a ship describes its role and general size. Aircraft Carrier, Fast Attack Submarine, Destroyer Escort, Light Cruiser, and so on.

"Battleships" were among the first all-steel ships built in the 19th century. Technically, a battleship is a very large surface combatant with three or more turrets mounting very large-caliber guns, banks of secondary weapons, and, in WWII, extensive anti-aircraft batteries. Some carried torpedo launchers or depth charge racks. They were meant to be the King of The Ocean Battle.

What actually happened was that they participated in very few battles, and once airpower came into play, they were doomed. The US held onto a few Iowa-class battleships into the early 90s, but they no longer had a real mission in an age of over the horizon battles and increasingly fast and accurate missiles.

These days, there are no battleships in use anywhere in the world. Surface warfare is dominated by smaller, more nimble ships with lower profiles that use anti-ship missiles to engage enemies. That's what the Moskva was.

It bugs me because this is one of those things that is so damn easy to get right. It shows the laziness of the press to keep labeling all warships as battleships the way they call all military vehicles tanks.

Rant over. Secure from battle stations.

The American Addiction to Speeding - How we became obsessed with driving fast, no matter the cost.

A really interesting article, and from my perspective both as a former commercial driver and current crossing guard, I can see all sides of the argument.

In a way, speeding, but not too much, is a truly American form of civil disobedience. "You say 65? Ha! I'm doing 73!" This is perfectly fine with me so long as you're moving with the flow of traffic and not creating hazards.

Of course on city streets, that's another matter. There's just too much going on around you, even on a main artery like El Camino Real here in the South Bay, to forgive speeding. I see it every day, in my little corner, where the speed limit is 35mph, except it's a school zone, so 25mph when children are present, which is from when I show up for my morning shift to when I leave from the afternoon shift. But, since it's a main road, I regularly see drivers doing over 50.

The Waze Factor gets mentioned, and this is something else I've noticed. When people using Waze see a report of police ahead, they drop their speed. Until other users report that the cop is gone. To me, this is a great way to slow traffic! Just as good as the empty police car trick, which the Park Police used to do in the Presidio when I drove for SuperShuttle.

People are going to speed. But for God's sake, slow down around schools and don't drive faster than the flow around you. Come home safe, saving five minutes isn't worth it.

People are making it really hard to be a progressive today. In response to the Derek Chauvin sentencing, I was seeing any number of people screaming "It should have been life!" or "Give him the death penalty!"

Never mind that neither of these things was ever an option based on the crimes he was convicted of. 40 years was the maximum, 30 is what the prosecutor asked for, and the defense asked for probation. The sentence of 22.5 years, or which Chauvin has to serve at least 15 before he can get parole, is quite fair and in the interests of justice.

But the same people who march in the streets demanding equal application of the law literally said that drawing and quartering were not out of line. I've been blocked and muted several times on Twitter because I refuse to join in the bloodlust. A cop not only was arrest and convicted of murder, but he's also going to be behind bars until at least 2036.

People need to learn how to take a win.

OK, listen up you primitive screwheads.

There was a bombing in Nashville, Tennessee this morning. A rather odd bombing that involved a potentially false report to draw police to the scene, a suspicious RV that began blasting a warning and a countdown, and then a powerful explosion.

That's all we know for a fact. No one, at this point has claimed responsibility. There have been, as I write this, no arrests.

I am going to suggest something radical: what for more information before blaming the bombing on anyone. We do not know who, how, or why. We don't know if there was anyone in the RV when it exploded. We don't know if there was a target. The FBI is on the scene, and the crime scene covers several square blocks.

Finally, I shall remind you that on April 18th, 1996, 90% of Americans were absolutely certain that the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK, had been bombed by Arab terrorists. The facts showed otherwise. Wait for the facts.

Dungeons & Dragons Removes Concept of Inherently Evil Races From the Game

Excellent news! To be honest, alignment is such a tired game mechanic I'm hoping to see it quietly sent to a farm in the country where it can play with THAC0 and all the other retired game concepts.

Because races and people don't fit into nice little boxes, and sometimes the truth is defined by the perspective of the person involved. To use an extreme example, the Nazis believed they were right. They believed they were saving Germany. They believed that they were beset by enemies who must be destroyed. They were utterly wrong, and while the world rightly judged them as evil, at the time of the Third Reich the Germans saw themselves as good.

History is filled with examples like this. Shit, American Manifest Destiny, our God-given mandate to occupy North America with good (white) Protestants was held up as the highest pinnacle of our national dream. The fact that in required slavery, genocide, and beating up on Mexico gets swept under the carpet. We are America! We are now, and always have been, the Good Guys!

Bullshit.

But what of our nice, clean fantasy worlds? Can they survive losing these black and white categorizations of morality? Of course they can. I own half a dozen games that do high fantasy just fine without it. And you don't need good and evil to explain hated, bias, or competition over resources. You just need better storytelling.

Even before I owned Volo's Guide to Monsters, which does an amazing job on Orcs, I had my own explanation for why they were so aggressive and greedy. Male orcs outnumber females 3:1. Breeding rights are earned through prowess in battle and bringing shiny treasures back to the tribe. Warbands are out to prove themselves and earn status. Orcs also reproduce fast, so every few generations, either a massive inter-tribal war breaks out, or a mass migration begins. Neither is good news for nearby communities.

Of course, orc bands can be bribed. Just like the Romans paid off migrating barbarian states, local leaders can make peace with the orcs, pay them to direct their energies elsewhere, even hire them as mercenaries. The point is, they are no longer just monsters, but a people with motivations that go beyond being adventure chow. The orc guarding a chest in a 10x10 room is there because that's his offering at the tribe moot! Of course, he's going to defend it!

There are exceptions, things tied to evil deities or creatures from afoul planes will be evil. Gnolls, as an example, are tied to the Demon Lord Yeenoughu and share his endless hunger. A Holy Avenger will only agree to be wielded by a worth champion. But those cases can be adjudicated as needed.

So here's to the end of racial alignments!

The Washington Post has an interesting article about proposed government restructuring.

On the whole, I am not opposed to streamlining the government. The fact is Washington is a rat's nest of departments, agencies, and commissions that do work at cross-purposes. It could use a good cleaning up. I'm just wondering about some of the choices here.

Here's how I'd do it.

• Take the Departments of Labor and Commerce and combine them into the Department of Economic Development.


• Health and Human Services and Education become the Department of Health and General Welfare. I choose that name because the words general welfare appear in the Preamble to the Constitution as one of the duties of the government.


• Agriculture, Transportation, and Housing & Urban Development get folded into the Department of the Interior. One agency overseeing American land management.


• The Department of Veterans Affairs is dissolved as a civilian agency and becomes a branch of the military, headed by a four-star medical officer. This will cut down on the bureaucratic nightmare of records transfers.


• The Department of Homeland Security is broken up. The US Coast Guard goes to the Interior. State takes over border control and immigration and naturalization duties. All other law enforcement functions devolve to the fine folks at Justice.

There, down to seven official cabinet positions. I'd also take a chainsaw to the "czars" that populate the executive branch. Many of these are the result of Congress passing their Article I duties to the Executive Branch. Get ready to work Fridays, Capitol Hill!

The savings potential should be obvious. Aside from reduced headcounts due to eliminating redundant programs and offices, we'll see savings from a more streamlined bureaucracy.

Well, it was made official today. The Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders are packing their bags and moving to Las Vegas. Eventually. Currently is for the Raiders to play the next two seasons at the O.Co (dumbest naming rights deal ever) Mausoleum before moving to their new digs in Sin City.

Isn't that going to be awkward? Anyone who has ever watched a Raiders' home game realizes that the Oakland fans are . . . special. Fanatical. OK, they're bloody lunatics. Elaborate costumes ranging from barbarians to Darth Raider that would turn heads at ComicCon, all in the iconic black and silver, and concentrated in the Black Hole, the seats at the south end of the field. You don't get that anywhere else.

It seems that the Raiders are the league's last old school football team. They've never been pretty. Raider uniforms attract mud, grass, and blood in great quantities. Their heroes have nicknames like "Snake" and "Assassin." Going to a Raiders game is to take your life in your hands. Even outside the Black Hole the fans tend to be raging, drunk, and more interested in fights than watching the game.

Sadly, this seems to be increasingly common at NFL games. Time to end tailgating and deny access to drunk fans.

But as crazy as that fan base is, they are devoted to the Raiders and to Raider Nation. They endured a 12 year shunning when the team moved to Los Angeles and welcomed them back with open arms. The venerated an owner who treated his fans as commodities, not part of the larger zeitgeist that made the Raiders so great, even in the long run of losing seasons that followed their humiliating loss in 2002's Super Bowl XVIII.

So a lot of people are asking why move the team? Why abandon this cultural phenomenon that has been roaring along since 1960? I've seen many, many fans declare that they are done. I'm seriously wondering how many people will both to go to games in the next two seasons as the new stadium is constructed in the desert?

The answer to my question is money. Unlike most NFL owners, the Davis family does not have extensive sources of income outside the team. Al Davis, who has a memorial eternal flame at the Coliseum, spent his life focused on the Raiders. He never built a large outside fortune. His son, Mark Davis, who inherited the team on his father's passing, wants to cash in. Las Vegas offered a big package.

Goodbye Raiders.

But like I said, they team has at least two seasons before they have anyplace in their new home to play. The stadium at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is completely inadequate when it comes to the demands of hosting a professional football game. It has been suggested that if the City of Oakland and Alameda County refuse to provide vital services for home games, the Raiders might play in Los Angeles, San Diego (which just lost the Chargers to Los Angeles) or at Levi's Stadium here in Santa Clara.

Ha. We'd demand a huge rent for that. Levi's is a shrine to the Forty-Niners. The Raiders would be playing in a red and gold temple to names like Montana and Rice. It would be awkward as hell for everyone involved. I've even seen Stanford of UC Berkeley mentioned as possible temporary shelters for the homeless wandering players.

Here's the nightmare scenario for everyone. Last season, the Raiders made the playoffs for the first time in fifteen years. What happens if they win big next year and go to the Super Bowl? How does that work in the face of a probable fan boycott? If the team plays the year in San Diego, and wins the Super Bowl, where do you hold the frigging parade? Do you dare hold it downtown Oakland, a city known for violent protests? San Diego, which won't really give a damn? The NFL must be cringing at the possibility.

But that's sports. My beloved Giants spent nearly a century in New York before moving west, and there aren't many lakes in Los Angeles to name the Lakers after. It is, at its heart, a business. And as majority owner, Mark Davis has every right to make the moves he feels best for the team. The only major sport franchise where this couldn't happen is with the Green Bay Packers, who are owned by the people of Green Bay, Wisconsin. I'd love to see that model expanded.

As a closing note, the vote of NFL team owners to allow the move was 31-1. The owner of the Miami Dolphins was the sole vote against. I guess he didn't want to give up the title of Tackiest NFL City.

Go NINERS!

Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has died at 79. Normally, when someone of note or importance dies, I'm able to muster a few kind words. It rarely does good to speak ill of the dead. If nothing else, I can express my sympathy for the friends and family.

Not so in this case. When it comes to Mr. Scalia, the Grateful Dead best expressed my opinion: "There may come a day I will dance on your grave/If unable to dance I'll crawl 'cross it." I loathed this man. His questionable ethics, his crudeness, and his unending desire to roll back a half century of social progress because he was afraid of change.

Have no doubt, Justice Scalia was the enemy of all but the financial elite and the far-right conservative religious in this nation. Read his opinions. He was an Originalist when it suited him, and staunchly opposed to extending Constitutional rights to any segment of the public he found suspect. His dissent in Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) is a masterpiece of his paleoconservative disconnect. He freely admits that laws restricting personal rights can't pass constitutional muster, but argues that they should be left in place anyway. His dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015) shows his unethical and frankly, bullying nature.

A horrible justice gone from the bench, and an unethical man gone from our planet. I shall not shed a tear for him.

In the comments on an article about the death of Gregory Powell, one of the infamous Onion Field killers. One commenter wondered if the cost of the long incarceration of Powell would change the mind of anti-death penalty folks like me. Here's my response:

Sorry, but no.

The simple fact of the matter is that the police make mistakes or act in illegal ways to close a case. Not always, not even often, but it happens. Same goes for prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges.. the entire criminal justice system is capable of error.

So what do you do if evidence is found that someone was wrongly convicted? A judge can void the conviction and call for a new trial. In extreme cases the judge can declare the entire case irreversibly tainted and order the convict freed immediately. States have funds to compensate those imprisoned wrongly for their loss of freedom.

How do you compensate a dead man? Isn't the premeditated intentional killing of an innocent man the very definition of murder? Should we execute those responsible for the wrong verdict?

People are freed every month after their convictions are overturned. Your lust for blood and vengeance isn't justice, it's the howling of a lynch mob.

If you really cared about lowering prison costs you'd be advocating for an end to the war on some drugs, working to end the poverty and hopelessness that leads to a life of crime, and demanding alternative sentences for non-violent offenders.

http://www.innocenceproject.org/

I haven't seen it and have no desire to do so. But if this was a five-man sniper team from the 3/2 Marines as has been reported, each and every one of these Marines needs to be charged and, once convicted, thrown out of the service with a Dishonorable Discharge.

This is a hard concept for a lot of civilians to get. "Wait, blowing someone up with a cluster bomb is fine, but peeing on a corpse is wrong?" Yes. American soldiers will strive to kill the enemy with all the tools at our disposal. That is our job. We, from a grunt Marine Rifleman to an Air Force Missileman in a silo, are there to Kill People and Break Things. This is what we do. We are very good at it. But we are also trained in the tradition of mercy to the enemy wounded, fallen, and to those who have become our prisoners.

Respecting your enemy is perhaps the hardest thing a soldier is asked to do. The enemy is trying to kill you. Odds are, the enemy comes from an alien culture which may be offensive to the average American. At worst, the enemy may be seen as a cheater who refuses to stand up and fight. When you actually get your hands on the enemy, alive or dead, the urge to take out your anger or frustration is near-overwhelming.

But we have to resist that urge. Because we are supposed to be better than that. The difference between a mob and an Army is discipline. We treat enemy wounded. We protected captured enemy troops and treat them humanely. And we treat enemy dead as we would one of our own fallen. With respect. To see that respect fail so spectacularly among an elite group like a USMC sniper team is sickening. For all the legends that surround snipers as merciless death-dealers, we're still humans. We are just held to a higher standard since we are expected to operate outside the normal chain of command much of the time.

Some will blame the high operational tempo, the endless and repeated tours. Bullshit. Every single service member serving today, a decade after we entered Afghanistan, knows what they were getting into. Stress is not an excuse. There is no excuse possible for the complete breakdown of discipline to the point where United States Marines would desecrate an enemy's corpse. None. These five Marines need to be loudly and publicly thrown to the wolves pour encourager les autres. If we're really cutting back on the military and making training harder, I suggest tightening the screws on discipline as well.

In my perfect word, once convicted, these five losers would be paraded in dress blues before as many of the 2nd Marines as can be gathered. On a stage, every piece of rank, insignia, awards... anything that makes the uniform a Marine uniform, is ripped off. The discharges are read aloud. Then the entire regiment turns their backs on the malefactors. I'd also deny any government benefits to those dishonorably discharged. That includes unemployment, Medicare, and Social Security.

Yes, I'm furious about this. These morons just handed the enemy a propaganda coup.