1776

I hadn’t seen this before. Thoughts? Mystery Drones Swarmed a U.S. Military Base for 17 Days. The Pentagon Is Stumped. U.S. officials don’t know who is behind the drones that have flown unhindered over sensitive national-security sites—or how to stop them A view of Langley Air Force Base at dusk from Gosnold’s Hope Park in Hampton, Va. KRISTEN ZEIS FOR WSJ Oct. 12, 2024 at 9:00 pm U.S. Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly wasn’t sure what to make of reports that a suspicious fleet of unidentified aircraft had been flying over Langley Air Force Base on Virginia’s shoreline. Kelly, a decorated senior commander at the base, got on a squadron rooftop to see for himself. He joined a handful of other officers responsible for a clutch of the nation’s most advanced jet fighters, including F-22 Raptors. For several nights, military personnel had reported a mysterious breach of restricted airspace over a stretch of land that has one of the largest concentrations of national-security facilities in the U.S. The show usually starts 45 minutes to an hour after sunset, another senior leader told Kelly. The first drone arrived shortly. Kelly, a career fighter pilot, estimated it was roughly 20 feet long and flying at more than 100 miles an hour, at an altitude of roughly 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Other drones followed, one by one, sounding in the distance like a parade of lawn mowers. The drones headed south, across Chesapeake Bay, toward Norfolk, Va., and over an area that includes the home base for the Navy’s SEAL Team Six and Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval port. A view of the Langley base in Virginia. PHOTO: KRISTEN ZEIS FOR WSJ Officials didn’t know if the drone fleet, which numbered as many as a dozen or more over the following nights, belonged to clever hobbyists or hostile forces. Some suspected that Russia or China deployed them to test the response of American forces. Federal law prohibits the military from shooting down drones near military bases in the U.S. unless they pose an imminent threat. Aerial snooping doesn’t qualify, though some lawmakers hope to give the military greater leeway. Reports of the drones reached President Biden and set off two weeks of White House meetings after they first appeared in December last year. Officials from agencies including the Defense Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pentagon’s UFO office joined outside experts to throw out possible explanations as well as ideas about how to respond.

Yeah, that was a weak take on Skubal. We’d never be here without him.

Well…Spring Training is just a few short months away. 🌞

One out to go.

Vierling was invisible today.

Well…not good.

I expect RM to check in soon.

In my opinion, these are two of the top needs for 2025, a first baseman and a SS. From a defensive and offensive perspective.

We need for Boyd to revert back to his old self for this start.

You sold me with the, “Book it.”

I would think that would be the case. I can’t imagine a structure in that zone being uninsured.

I like having the Giants affiliate in Richmond. We go up several times a year to see them. This September we drove up for the Richmond Squirrels Patrick Bailey (NC State baseball-Greensboro native) bobblehead. Quite by accident we saw Bryce Eldridge’s first AA ballgame that evening. He’s the #1 prospect in their system. He’s a native of Fairfax, VA! In May my son and I saw Hayden Birdsong start/pitch for Richmond. And yes, I recall the years of the Richmond Braves fondly. We saw Toledo there a number of times.

Having a MiLB team and a MLB team share the same park has to be a complication for the schedule makers, especially given the way the minor league schedules go a week at a time at a single park now. The AA Mississippi Braves are relocating to Columbus, GA this offseason. They will be known as the Columbus Clingstone Peaches going forward. The Rays would look good in Pearl, MS. For a couple of years. 😁

I’m no Mets fan but I’m hoping they beat the Dodgers. Something about Dodgers’ fans being disappointed gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Dodgers win it. Tatis, Jr. and Machado will have to find something else to do with their time for a while.

SD has three outs left to change the outcome.

Just read, courtesy of theathletic, that Tiger Town in Lakeland didn’t suffer any serious damage and is in good shape.

Me as well.

The Richmond Flying Squirrels were the top drawing AA team of 2024. These guys hit that mark most every year. Amazing they do that in that antiquated park. We were there in early September for a game and they were breaking ground next door then.

The baseball media is already fantasizing and getting all lathered up over a possible subway series.

WASHINGTON—Voters in the nation’s seven battleground states see Donald Trump as better equipped than Kamala Harris to handle the issues they care about most—the economy and border security—yet are divided about evenly over which candidate should lead the nation, a new Wall Street Journal poll finds. The survey of the most contested states finds Harris with slim leads in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia on ballots that include independent and third-party candidates where they will be offered as options. Trump has a narrow edge in Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. But no lead is greater than 2 percentage points, except for Trump’s 5-point advantage in Nevada, which like the others is within the poll’s margin of error. Across the full set of 4,200 swing-state voters, Trump gets 46% support and Harris draws 45%. The survey finds that the race in every state—and therefore the presidential election—is too close to call. If Harris wins the states where she leads in the poll, she would win a narrow majority in the Electoral College. WSJ 10/11/2024

I think the full day off today comes at a good time for the team and the staff. Would rather not jump right in tonight looking back at the loss. I’m confident Hinch will bring a new wrinkle to the strategy for tomorrow night. The Carpenter status will be big. He’s a big piece to lose.

If Carpenter can’t go they can bring another guy onto the roster, right? If so, would you consider bringing another pitcher into the mix or would that not be the best idea? With Skubal pitching maybe a position player may be the best bet.

Offense!!!

DUBAI—Tehran is threatening in secret diplomatic backchannels to target the oil-rich Arab Gulf states and other American allies in the Middle East if their territories or airspace are used for an attack on Iran, said Arab officials. Israel has threatened Tehran with a severe reprisal after Iran fired about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel earlier this month, with some Israeli officials and commentators pushing for damaging strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities or oil infrastructure. In that event, Iran has warned it would respond with devastating hits on Israel’s civilian infrastructure, and would retaliate against any Arab state that facilitated the attack, the officials said. The Arab officials said the countries that Iran has threatened include Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all of which host U.S. troops. These states have told the Biden administration that they don’t want their military infrastructure or airspace to be used by the U.S. or Israel for any offensive operations against Iran, the officials said. While the Iranian threats are vague, they have raised concerns in energy-rich Persian Gulf states that their oil facilities—long viewed as protected by an American security umbrella—could be hit, the Arab officials said. U.S. military installations and forces in the region could also be at risk in a region with one of the highest concentrations of American troops in the world, they added. WSJ 10/10/2024