Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 14, 2025 in Blog |
TURNING POINT: THE VIETNAM WAR (NETFLIX SERIES–REVIEW)
“You will kill 10 of us, we will kill one of you. But in the end you will tire first.” — Ho Chi Minh
“We’re killing these people at a ratio of 10 to 1.” — Army Gen. William Westmoreland, U.S. supreme commander in Vietnam
“Westy, the American people don’t care about the 10, they care about the one.” — Sen. Fritz Hollings, a decorated World War II veteran from Westmoreland’s home state of South Carolina
The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago. The recent anniversary date (April 30, 1975) prompted several retrospectives–old and new. As is the case with many historical events, the passage of time does provides a broader, deeper, and clearer perspective of what really happened. Much like a forest and the trees, some distance away from the subject often provides the best vantage point.
Even so, we still may examine the same events, and then reach very different conclusions. History isn’t just about remembering a quiescent past. Rather, it’s a reactive interpretation between then and now. Examining things that made us who were are — individually and collectively — may even provide a wiser direction for the future. History speaks to us, sometimes loudly and clearly, if we take the time to listen and learn.
The Vietnam War, initially released in 2017 and debuted on PBS remains in my opinion one of the best historical documentaries ever made. That 10-part, 18-hour series from directors Ken Burns and Lynn Novick presented firsthand accounts of the Vietnam War. The stars were the many witnesses who were interviewed, including Americans who fought and many who opposed it, as well as North and South Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both sides of the civil war that lasted two decades and cost millions of lives.
Now in 2025, when Netflix listed a new streaming 5-part, 6-hour series titled Turning Point: The Vietnam War, the idea seemed repetitious. Skeptical, I wondered what added perspectives and new lessons might we can learn.
Turns out — quite a lot. Here are my thoughts with a few comments on each episode, focusing on the revelations:
PART 1: “America Goes to War” — Most Vietnam documentaries which too often concentrate primarily on the American vantage point promote the false narrative and a historical myth that President Kennedy was largely blameless for the war’s escalation 1961-1963. Yet, all evidence (shown here) points to the contrary. A ridiculous revisionist perspective has even emerged claiming JFK tried to stop America’s involvement in the war, which has no basis in fact. The documentary boldly exposes this preposterous distortion and shows JFK’s repeated mismanagement at various junctions of crisis leading to escalation, including the first American casualities. His recurrent deference to hawkish advisors (McNamara, Rusk, etc.) led to spiraling political and military burdens that would sink the United States into a giant Vietnamese quicksand. In fairness to Kennedy’s (and later Johnson’s) legacies, any President in office during that time likely would have followed a similar course of action. Nonetheless, this documentary was the first I’ve seen that challenges the many falsehoods surrounding JFK’s actions and intentions.
PART 2: “Civil War” — Americans often ignore (or simply don’t know) Vietnam was engaged in a two-decades long civil war between north and south. Most Vietnamese people were not communists, but South Vietnam’s internal corruption and ghastly ineptitude gradually eroded popular support for leadership in the south and incrementally shifted allegiances within provinces. Eventually, South Vietnam’s position became untenable — and far worse, American leadership knew it was a lost cause. The leaders most associated with the war’s immensity and destruction include names very familiar to us–including Johnson, Nixon, McNamara, Westmoreland, Thieu, and certainly Ho Chi Minh. However, Le Duan who was the original founder of the Indochina Communist Party and the undisputed leader of North Vietnam after Ho’s death in 1969 through 1975 (later, he ruled the newly unified Republic of Vietnam post-war from 1976 until his death in 1986) was the war’s primary architect and singular most influential figure. Chairman Ho received most of the accolades (the network of trails of supply lines in his name, and later the renaming of Saigon in his honor). Yet, it was Le who promoted the hyper-aggressive military tactics that defeated a superpower. Had Le not been so influential, it’s very possible there might still be two Vietnams today, or the conflict may have even continued indefinitely. For all his brutality, Le Duan should go down in history as one of the most remarkable military and political tacticians of the 20th Century. Fittingly, he receives his due in this documentary.
PART 3: “Life is Cheap” — This episode was difficult to watch. This was the first war where the lines between military and civilians were not just blurred, but indistinguishable. With all the talk of terrorism in the world today, the shooting, bombing, torturing, and mass execution of civilians was quite common in Vietnam, taking place repeatedly among both sides of the conflict. North Vietnam’s use of terror was deliberately cruel, so as to instill fear in the population. But perhaps the most destructive and counterproductive policy of the war was the use of “body counts” as a metric of success and progress. Over multiple years, as many as *10* (alleged) communists were killed for every *1* American. The 10-1 body count made the situation seem that the war had “light at the end of the tunnel” and could be won with more troops fighting, and killing. Trouble was, since dead bodies were the trophies of war, both American and South Vietnamese forces prioritized death from any sources — men, women, old, young. The bigger the pile of dead on battlefields and in villages, the better. “Kills,” more specifically the kill ratio, was the war’s scoreboard. NVA’s own terror tactics combined with the “body count” metrics on the war’s progress on the part of ARVN and American forces grotesquely contributed to distortions, becoming a mass factory of death where “life was cheap.”
PART 4: “Why Are We Even Here?” — Part 4 was the weakest segment of the series, mostly repeating what’s already been portrayed many times about the growing anti-war movement, which for all its numbers didn’t actually hasten the war’s end. Popular support for the war shifted in 1968 after the Tet Offensive, but it was five painful years (and 20,000 more American lives) later that U.S. forces finally evacuated the civil war, leaving north and south to continue fighting it out; and then another 7 years until the war finally ended. At the time, defending South Vietnam wasn’t looked upon for any moral or humanitarian reasons. It was simply a snake-shaped square on the much broader chessboard, a proxy nation and battle test for the much larger global conflict between West and East (aligned around ideologies which were at odds). Note: Given the release of more historical documents, including tapes from the White House, we’ve learned in recent years that Richard Nixon (certainly his campaign) may have worked to sabotage a 1968 peace deal that was in negotiation by LBJ. This is a critical revelation, deserving of more scrutiny and investigation–but at least it’s mentioned in passing here, whereas previous Vietnam War documentaries do not include this updated information.
PART 5: “The End of the Road” — The end of the Vietnam War is the story of heroism and heartbreak. American military forces which had numbered 500,000 by 1969, were mostly gone by 1974 and within 18 months, South Vietnam’s fragile government and defenses forces collapsed. The evacuation was criminally mismanaged by the Nixon (and later Ford) Administrations which should have begun the exit sooner, resulting in mass chaos. Hundreds of thousands of pro-American Vietnamese workers and allies were left behind, and many were simply abandoned (later to be imprisoned or killed). Yet to the documentary’s credit, we also learn of the heroic role played by American military forces who were there in that spring of 1975, who risked their lives for others (about 150,000 Vietnamese were airlifted out of the country, mostly onto Navy ships via helicopters….Side Note: My neighbors across the street, an elderly Vietnamese couple, were among those who got out thanks to brave American forces). We also see a very unusual perspective that I wish was given more time. Pro-North Vietnamese victors were interviewed and some say freely on camera that their own revenge and retribution towards the South (and its people) afterward was a terrible mistake. After the war ended, the killing should have stopped. It didn’t. In fact, neighboring Cambodia was about to suffer it’s own mass genocide ala “The Killing Fields,” which began immediately thereafter.
The Netflix documentary directed by Brian Knappenberger won’t surpass nor replace the stellar Burns-Novick film portrait of the war and the memorable people who fought it. But to be fair and honest, nothing will. What “Turning Point: The Vietnam War” does manage to accomplish is update the facts and remind us of a deadly conflict made far worse by national hubris, ignorance, and arrogance. If ātruth is the first casualty of warā according to Aeschylus, the final casualties and costs are never known.
The Vietnam War may have ended, at least officially on paper, a half-century ago when communist North Vietnamese forces finally captured the capital city of Saigon which was the last bastion of American-backed South Vietnam. However, for many Americans then and now, and even more Vietnamese who suffered immeasurably worse loss and anguish, it didnāt feel like the war was over. Some battles are carried with us and never end, nor is anyone victorious.
— ND
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 13, 2025 in Blog |
THE PHONE AND TEXT STING:
Here’s a phone scam someone tried to pull on me last Sunday, on Mother’s Day. I’m sharing this here and now because readers out there could also be vulnerable and fall for it, and therefore should be warned. The scam came perilously close to success, which could have cost me thousands of dollars. Read carefully, and look, and listen, for red flags.
I’m leaving out specific details of the *art of this steal* for obvious reasons, but I do have two active credit union memberships which constitutes the majority of my personal banking. Both credit unions are located East Coast — one in Washington and the other in New York. It’s also important to point out most credit unions are obscure, with limited membership. These are *not* Bank of Americas or Wells Fargo type accounts. So, this wasn’t just a common *phishing* scam in which the shitbag perpetrator uses financial institutions known to a vast majority of the country, then carpet bombs sucker lists with emails purporting to be phony “alerts,” which means a greater chance of success screwing the victims. It’s all the numbers game. Send out a thousand blasts, and a few will nibble the bait from the hook.
About 2 pm on this Mother’s Day, I received a text message alert claiming to be from my credit union. It asked if I had authorized a $699 charge at Target, the retailer. This was a text. It asked me to reply — yes or no. I replied immediately with a text answering — no. Sounds plausible, so far. Also, since my credit union is open only during regular business hours, it wasn’t possible for me to phone across the country to get a voice recording to verify if this was legitimate or not. Ideal timing for a scam.
A few minutes later, my phone rang. An Asian-sounding man was on the line. He asked me if I was the person who had an account at the credit union. So far, this all seemed legitimate. I told him — yes, I’m a member of that credit union.
The man was very polite and cordial. Most scammers immediately work to gain your trust, and those who succeed are good at what they do. He even wished me a happy Mother’s Day! What a sweetheart! He made some small talk about his own mother, missing her and also informed me she had just passed away. Poor thing! Turn on the tear switch. Having dealt with this credit union for the past 30 years, this was nothing unusual because these agents are very well trained and polite. At this point, I had no reason to suspect I was a big fish who had chomped at the bait. Hey, the poor guy just lost his mother….how could I be suspicious?
We went back and forth for a couple of minutes with him asking if I’d authorized any purchases from Miami, Florida. Of course, the answer is no — unless you count the $300 bet I lost on the Florida Panthers hockey team a couple of nights ago. He asked me if I tried to log in to my bank account with various devices — and since yes, I do have a bad habit of using smartphones, tablets, and multiple laptops to log in with the cloud I found this part of the exchange confusing. But the fact.that he seemed to know all this, it also lent some degree of credibility to the identity of the caller. That’s when the scammer stuck out the real bait and I was just lurch and nibble away from being victimized.
IMPORTANT: Read this part and memorize it! The scammer said he was sending me a “verification code” by text, and next all I had to do was *repeat the verification* back to him and he would tell the fraud department to cancel the transaction and that I was fully protected from any financial obligations going forward. He then repeated the often circulated line that the banking institution would never ask for any personal information. He just needed the code to verify that it was me.
How many of you understand –at this point– what the scam is? It’s okay. I didn’t realize either how critical this point was to the entire scam and very real possibility that I could have been ripped off for thousands of dollars and my credit union would not have been liable for the loss.
The way the scam works is this: If you use online banking services, you have a *username* and a *password.* Sometimes, we’re prompted to change passwords. When that happens, your financial institution usually sends a text to confirm your identity and once you do that you have the power to change the password and then once that’s done you have access to all of your finances.
Had I given this scammer the code, he then would have plugged it in, changed my online banking password to his own creation, and then he would have had *full control* of my finances. Yikes! At that point, he could have sent my money to anyone or anywhere. He could have emptied my bank account. And I was just six digits away from being ripped off. I’m certain that many people are trusting and would have given this information out, and then been scammed. It all sounded so legitimate. So real.
This post is long, but it’s important. If you know seniors or people who tend to fall for these kinds of scams, please share this. And now, I’m going to tell you a little more, including how I discovered that this charade was a scam.
I didn’t think much of it at the time, but the area code from the phone number was 805. My credit union in this case was a Washington DC institution …. so I knew all those area codes. But *805* is in Riverside, California and goes up towards Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. WTF? I didn’t know this until I Googled it in real time while we were talking. That’s a huge red flag. Why would my East Coast financial institution use an area code based out of Riverside 3,000 miles away? I must admit that if this area code had been 202 or 703 I might have swallowed the hook and then gone down with the ship. And I hesitate sharing this, because who knows what scammer reads this and then they can perfect their art of the steal.
That’s when I, with suspicions mounting, asked the scammer to read back the last couple of financial transactions so I could see if he really did have my information on the screen. We argued back and forth and he said until I verified who what I was through that code he wasn’t able to share the details of my last few financial transactions using the credit union banking.
That’s when I decided to get angry, and I had to admit this was fun as fuck in pig mud. I won’t repeat the poetry of pornography of what I said to the scammer, but I figured if this really was a credit union representative and I had to apologize later that would be quite all right, and I was willing to take that chance. Anyway, I absolutely obliterated him with a barrage of insults. That’s when the scammer in my mid-sentence of insults cut me off and began laughing hysterically and then screamed back at me “I’ve made $20,000 this month fucking over people like you!!!!!!!!” I don’t know why suddenly believe this, but that’s probably the only honest thing this scam clown actually said to me. Sure, it’s very possible he made that kind of money ripping off people!
I followed this up with multiple screen shots of everything that was in the text and also calling my credit union and the proper authorities. I fear that this just goes into some invisible cyber file and no one gives this kind of danger and the attention it deserves. I want this scumbag destroyed. And moreover, why in the hell are we not prosecuting and punishing *white-collar crimes* like this which are equally egregious to low-level petty crime that usually ends in long prison sentences? That’s another post for another time, but I’m all for obliterating white collar criminals, even though the current (Trump) regime has gutted and defanged the federal agencies that investigate cyber crime. That just means you and I and everyone else has a much greater chance of being fucked and there’s nothing the government will do to help you. If you’re not getting angry about this then well there is no hope. Those are facts and they should piss you off, regardless of your politics.
So, maybe this post will help you and warn you and give you some idea of what’s going on out there. It’s easy to say that couldn’t happen to me. It’s arrogant to surmise that there’s no way that someone could pull off a scam on me. Yeah, right. We all think we’re way too smart the fall for the BS. But, they increasingly get more sophisticated and the methods do work on some people. There are scam factories operating 24/7 all around the world doing this right now.
I hope this long post serves as a warning and that many of you reading now will share what’s happening and also acknowledge how close we all are to being violated and ripped off.
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 13, 2025 in Blog |
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS (1997)
Today, in the year 2025, it’s 90Ā° outside and the wind is blowing like crazy. Which reminds me of the same date 28 years ago on this day in near identical conditions when the world championship of poker finale was played outdoors.
What? Poker? Outside?
The Fremont Street Experience, which is a giant canopy over the famous downtown Las Vegas boulevard, had just been completed and part of the opening festivities included holding the World Series of Poker final table outside at the apex of the poker and gambling scene. That might have seemed like a good idea during the planning phase, setting up bleachers for spectators which included the largest gathering to watch any poker event up to that time, inviting ESPN to film and later broadcast the finale, and then –to make the special occasion even more memorable– history was made when arguably the greatest card player in history ended up steamrolling over the final table and winning his record-tying third world championship. By the way, kudos and godspeed to the late John Strzemp, who finished second to Unger on this occasion, who passed away only a few weeks ago.
The final table was quite scenic as you can see, but also dramatically different and contrary to the dark, smoky backroom image that had long been associated with the game until this time. Sadly, poker now looks like a game show and I consider poker on television unwatchable. But I still think the Horseshoe, and ESPN, and Jack McClelland, and Jim Albrecht had the right idea when they tried something very different on this day in 1997. Nobody expected it to be high of 96 degrees on this day and wind gusts into the 30s and 40 mphs.
Quick Side Note Story: Wind gusts outside were crazy. When the dealer laid out the flop, which is 3, 4, and 5 cards positioned at the center of the table, on a few occasions the sudden flurry of wind caught the cards underneath and turned the final table into poker confetti. Cards were literally flying through the air. Wait! What was the flop? The final table did not last long that year because it was played six-handed, but only about an hour into the broadcast somebody from the Horseshoe staff brought over a rectangle of plexiglass so when the flop was dealt the plexiglass was laid on top of the cards. That way, they wouldn’t blow away. Yes, these really were the conditions of the final table of the 1997 World Series of Poker, certainly the strangest of all time.
I took this photograph from the Union Plaza side looking down pointing eastward on Fremont Street which shows the expansive ESPN/ World Series of Poker final table area. I have lots of other photographs that were taken on this day. I’ll share some more if there’s a good story to go along with them. Remember, every good photograph has a good story.
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 6, 2025 in Blog |
MY THOUGHTS ON USA-CANADA RELATIONS
Why is Canada’s Mark Carney meeting today with someone who continues to lie out of his ass, hurls repeated insults, and spews idiotic delusions of grandeur about seizing control of a sovereign nation with a long history and proud people with the second-largest land mass in the world?
Meeting with Trump today at the White House isn’t just a blundering badly-timed mistake for Canada’s newly-elected Prime Minister. It’s madness. It’s like negotiating for your own lunch money with the 5th grade bully, on his playground.
This is a really dumb move, made even worse by its location, making things appear the Canadian Prime Minister is groveling and desperate to make “a deal,” as though trade talks are like lowballing with a guy wearing a checkered jacket for a used car. Truth is, Carney WON HIS NATIONAL ELECTION only a few weeks ago because of Trump’s clownish idiocy, which backfired big time with voters north of the border. Carney’s political strength then and especially NOW is standing up to schoolyard bully who is actually very weak. He must demand one simple and singular thing before any talks begin, and that is RESPECT.
Truth is, the one who is desperate here is Trump, with his tariff tax-hike trade war proving disastrous and our nation’s economy in danger of imploding. Attention-starved Trump DESPERATELY needs a bold fresh headline and a win. Somewhere. Someplace. Anywhere. On any front. He needs a trade victory, even if whatever scrap of paper gets signed is pretty much all bluster and bullshit, and you can be sure if it happens — it will be bluster and bullshit (probably just a rewording of the previous agreements, with the date changed, sort of like re-stacking all the boxes inside the garage and then saying you cleaned the garage).
Heading into today’s “talks,” Trump continues to lie — to everyone. Even as late in bi-lateral negotiations as this morning, his foolish social media posts about “subsidizing Canada to the tune of $200 billion annually” is patently FALSE. Not only that, but remember TRUMP DEFAULTED on the previous 2019 USA-Canada free trade agreement (a.k.a. USMCA) that he HE NEGOTIATED, APPROVED, and SIGNED. This current phase of back peddling and posturing tells us everything — Trump’s “word” is shit. It’s always been shit. His commitment means nothing — not to his wives he’s humiliated, not to his colleagues he’s thrown under the bus, not to the banks he’s repeatedly stiffed, not to businesses he’s run into the ground, not to employees he ruined, and CERTAINLY not to other nations, most of which he can’t find on a map. He cannot be trusted on ANYTHING. Why negotiate anything with such a chronic loon of dishonestly?
But far troubling about engaging in “talks” with someone so stupid and unstable are Trump’s maniacal totalitarian blabberings and insults. Repeatedly. On social media. In interviews. “The 51st State” derangement.
My message to Prime Minister Carney and all Canadians is this:
Until Trump and his gutless pack of inept lapdog lemmings SHOW YOU THE RESPECT YOU DESERVE as a SOVEREIGN NATION, do NOT negotiate anything. Not a meeting. Not a trade conference. Not even a phone call. If the phone rings, slam it down. And certainly, no meetings or talks. Fuck him.
Allies DO NOT threaten their friends and neighbors, slur their friendsā history and heritage, and insult tens of millions of good people who have stood and fought and partnered with the United States for as long as weāve both been nations. Before any talk of tariffs or trade or anything else commences, one thing is always requiredā¦.*mutual respect*. Without respect, there is no foundation for trust nor cooperation. Pretending otherwise is foolish.’Mark Carney, previously told reporters, āIām ready to sit downā¦.when thereās RESPECT FOR CANADIAN SOVEREIGNTY.ā
So, where’s the respect?
You won’t find it today at the White House. This meeting (happening right now, according to reports) is idiotic. Before any “talks” begin, first Canada should DEMAND AN APOLOGY.
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 5, 2025 in Blog |
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (1989)
I love this picture. Such fond memories of great people. That’s George and Betty, who were assigned with me to the American Embassy in Bucharest.
Behind them is my car, a 1985 Peugeot 505 Turbo Diesel two-tone with a stick shift. Man, I loved that car!
The location is the massive PiaČa Unirii district in central Bucharest which was a mega renovation zone under construction during the Ceausescu regime. This was taken sometime around the Romanian Revolution. Today, it’s one of the most affluent areas of the city, near the National Parliament.
George and Betty were good friends because we trained together at FSI before being assigned to Romania. So, we used to dine out together a lot back in Washington. They were from Plant City, FL which is near Tampa. Betty was selected to be a secretary (for the economic section, as I recall). George had been a B-25 pilot in WWII, so you can imagine how interesting he was to hang out with. Just hearing his stories was amazing. George was retired, but still was one of the regulars in our embassy poker game.
The happy couple was part of a (then) State Department program that targeted retired people for foreign service. For adventurous seniors who wanted to see and experience the world, serving overseas and working in an American Embassy may have been the perfect “twilight career.” Secretaries and other admin staff who were in their 60s were ideal candidates for service. They were hard-working, loyal, and usually established in their own lives. They were also mostly married, and the spouses got to train along with everyone else and even were sometimes given odd jobs within the embassy to keep busy, Contrast this with many 20-somethings who served overseas (like me) who were much wilder, less mature, and frankly, more risky hires.
Serving in Romania, a Communist country when we arrived was tough in many ways. But we also lived like royalty. The seniors program (hiring seniors to work overseas) was like an all-expenses paid multi-year holiday….like a stationary cruise ship in the middle of E. Europe….free housing, shipments of goods back and forth (including a car), an exciting job, and in the case of Romania–a fascinating place that was not only interesting, but also a perfect center point for weekend travels to the mountains, coasts, and other countries. I spend several three-day weekends with George and Betty. We also traveled together to Bulgaria a few times–Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna.
Some of the trips included George and Betty (in their 60s), plus me and the Navy Seabee (single guys in our 20s). We’d pile into the car and drive to Transylvania, or wherever. We used to joke that we were the “kids” traveling with mom and dad. “Mom, are we there yet?” That all gave us a good laugh, and it was true. I really enjoyed the camaraderie of traveling with people, and George and Betty were the best. We lost contact, and given their ages, I presume they died some time ago. Wonderful people.
I don’t know if that program exists any longer — hiring seniors for foreign service support staff — (probably not), but it was a terrific opportunity to serve, be involved in something new and exciting, and see new places that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.
I took this picture of George and Betty (and my car) on a street corner on a really nice and sunny day.
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 4, 2025 in Blog |
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
GOLD STRIKE CASINO (TUNICA, MISSISSIPPI) — 2000
Note: As I mentioned in yesterday’s posts, I found another box tucked away inside my garage. It’s packed with hundreds of old photographs I haven’t looked at in years. Before I toss most of them away, in the coming weeks and months ahead, I’ll be sharing many of the most interesting images in this historical treasure trove and also tell the stories behind them, that is, if there’s something of value to share.
This photo was taken in early 2000, the first year of the Jack Binion World Poker Open. That tournament lasted three weeks and was held as a joint venture between the Gold Strike and Horseshoe casinos in Tunica, MS, a half-hour south of Memphis. Because of universal respect for Jack Binion, everyone in poker who was known at the time showed up, even though Tunica was noplace smack dab in the middle of nowhere. Tunica had a population of 900 and it was one of the poorest regions in the country, and yet it had TEN CASINOS! At the time, the Gold Strike was the tallest building in the state of Mississippi, and it was surrounded by swamps and cotton fields. Tunica was the third-biggest gambling market in the country, after Las Vegas and Atlantic City. It was a boomtown, and a most bizarre one at that. The poker tournament’s Main Event was televised by ESPN.
Smartphones and instantaneous digital photography wasn’t a thing, yet. So, it was taken with a real camera. Unfortunately, I’m a lousy photographer. This was just before I met Eric Harkins (owner of Image Masters), so I had to shoot many of my own photos for publication. I don’t know why I used black and white film at the time, but I did.
Short and simple story: During a break, Doyle Brunson and Jack Binion were off to the side chatting. That’s when curmudgeon Sam Grizzle ran over, sabotaged their conversation, and began bitching (he had just gone bust in a big cash game). Brunson and Binion are regarded as two of the biggest giants in poker history, but if anyone could upstage the two legends and steal a spotlight, it was an angry Sam Grizzle when he was fuming and obviously on tilt. It’s not the best pic of Sam, but you can see from the looks on the faces of Doyle and Jack this wasn’t an enjoyable moment. For those who don’t know anything about Sam (who died a few years ago), let’s just say his last name, “GRIZZLE” was perfectly fitting. If Sam wasn’t real, you couldn’t make up a guy with a name like that now mostly remembered for being one of the meanest –but also funniest players (so long as you weren’t his target)– in the history of the game.
In the comments section of this Facebook post CLICK BELOW (great stories shared by many of you, so far!), I’ll post a few more photos from this encounter, which are kinda’ funny if you like gambling nostalgia.
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 4, 2025 in Blog |
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
YANKEE STADIUM (NEW YORK, NY) — 1979
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 4, 2025 in Blog |
EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY:
LAS VEGAS (1986)
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on May 2, 2025 in Blog |
TAKING A HAMMER TO U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS
In yesterday’s mail, I received a subscription offer to Foreign Affairs, which is an in-depth magazine focusing on U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Actually, it was a renewal offer, since my old subscription recently lapsed after many years. In normal times, a magazine offer wouldn’t trigger this Facebook post. But these are not normal times.
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Posted by Nolan Dalla on Apr 28, 2025 in Blog |
At first thought, Dead & Company playing inside the Sphere seems like a bad fit, perhaps even a betrayal of the counterculture cloak worn by the Grateful Dead since their beginnings in 1965 . Now well into seven decades of live performances, Dead concerts have always been known for their spontaneity and authenticity. Real instruments. Human voices. Nothingās recorded in advance. Auto-Tune, pitch correction, lasers, and stage gimmicks are verboten. Yet, theyāre performing inside the ultimate musical spaceship. Music isnāt merely to be heard, but also seen, and experienced. Somehow this clash of contradictions works. Call it balance. In fact, the Deadās mellow style and laid back stage vibe makes for an optimal counterweight to the glitzy sensory overload encircling the entire venue.
READ MY FULL REVIEW: CLICK HERE
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