Random News and Notes 16 March
We start off in the Sports world. The draw for the NCAA men’s basketball tourney was announced last night. The top seeds in the tourney are Duke (East Region, #1 overall), Arizona (West), Michigan (Midwest), and Florida (South).
The First Four, held at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, features four play-in games on March 17-18 to finalize the 64-team field. Matchups include #16 UMBC vs. #16 Howard, #11 Texas vs. #11 NC State, #16 Prairie View vs. #16 Lehigh, and #11 Miami (OH) vs. #11 SMU.
In another sports story we’ve been following here at MVAP, Team USA advanced to the finals in the World Baseball Classic, beating the Dominican Republic in a 2-1 thriller last night. Yankee outfielder Aaron Judge showed off his defense and cannon arm to cut down Fernando Tatis Jr who was trying to take 3rd on a base knock by Ketel Marte.
You don’t run on Cap.
Today is Gary Plauche Day. For those of you wondering who Gary is, well, he was the guy who one-shotted the subhuman that abducted and molested his 12 year old son. Plauché shot Doucet as he was being escorted through Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport by law enforcement to face trial, an event that was captured on camera by a local news crew. Plauché was given a seven-year suspended sentence with five years’ probation and 300 more hours of community service, receiving no prison time.
When he was questioned as to why he shot Doucet, Plauché contended that he was in the right for killing Doucet for sexually assaulting his son and that any parent in a similar position would have done the same thing, stating “if somebody did it to your kid, you’d do it too.”
Got that right.
There was a notable death on the 13th, but it just made the news in the last 12 or so hours. The author of that wonderful piece of fiction the Population Bomb, Paul Ehrlich died at age 93.
There is a class of punditry in this country that rarely if ever gets anything right yet they are still considered experts. Ehrlich was one. The only good thing about his long life – from my perspective anyway – is that he got to see every last one of his predictions fail.
Epic Fury News
Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, gave a briefing about Epic Fury:
In operational news, the Iranian air defense system is so degraded, US jets are doing low speed, low altitude missions over Iran.
This is such a flex. The US is telling Iran we own your ass and there is nothing you can do about it. It also sends a message to China and Russia.
This one is too good to check. The NY Post is reporting that US intelligence told the President that Mojtaba Khamenei is likely a homo. The report says he had a long-term relationship with his childhood tutor and made advances to male caregivers post-injury.
The 56-year-old, wounded in the same attack that killed his wife and son, has not appeared publicly, with rumors of treatment in Moscow swirling.
There is footage from Iran that seems to show the impacts of several bunker buster bombs near or in Isfahan. That city is the location of one of the Iranian nuclear sites. Or was.
Translation: A minute and a half video of the explosions from attacks on the ‘IRGC main headquarters in #ShahinShahr Isfahan’ Received video with the above description and: ‘After 9 a.m. on Sunday, March 8, 2025’