NO, IT ISN’T “MORE BEER.” The Beer Accessory You Didn’t Know You Desperately Needed.

The Drink Tank looks a lot like a piece of industrial camping equipment, or maybe a NASA-issued extraterrestrial water collection container. It’s a formidable piece of technology that has inspired more than a couple coworkers to ask what the hell it is. It can hold up to 128 oz. of beer (or any liquid). That’s 8 pints or just under 11 cans of beer. Plus it would easily fit in a backpack. Its double-wall insulated chamber can keep beer cold for 24 hours after an initial filling. So if your friends don’t finish the limited edition saison you brought back from Vermont, you can have it again for breakfast the next day. Waste not.

What really takes this Hulk-sized Thermos to the next level is the keg accessory cap. With a screw-on top, a CO2 cartridge, and a keg hose, this package turns the already impressive growler into that walk-around keg I was dreaming about. That CO2 pressure keeps beer fresh for longer, as opposed to a “Once You Open It, You Finish It” policy that comes with a regular growler—or crowler. No tipping and spilling. No flat beer. Just the pinch of a tap hose.

I’m not sure what problem these solve — they don’t keep beer cold long enough for a weekend camping trip, but they’re too big for most anything else — but they certainly are a clever concept.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Trump is playing with the press: He’s gaslighting them and they fall for it every time.

THE HORROR… THE HORROR: ‘Apocalypse Now’ Video Game in Works From Francis Ford Coppola.

“Forty years ago, I set out to make a personal art picture that could hopefully influence generations of viewers for years to come,” Coppola said in a statement. “Today, I’m joined by new daredevils, a team who want to make an interactive version of ‘Apocalypse Now,’ where you are Captain Benjamin Willard amidst the harsh backdrop of the Vietnam War.”

The RPG version of “Apocalypse Now” aims to blend a cinematic narrative with role-playing game mechanics. Players will take on the role of Captain Willard, on a secret mission to assassinate the renegade Colonel Kurtz.

Given the talent involved, hopes would be high for this game — but for the Social Justice Warriors infesting the gaming industry.

Or perhaps Coppola has enough cross-industry credibility to get the game that he wants.

SLATE MORPHED INTO SALON SO SLOWLY I HARDLY EVEN NOTICED: The Siege of Sanctuary Cities Has Begun.

Siege?

HMM: Youngest in class twice as likely to take ADHD medication. “A likely cause of the late birth date effect is that some teachers compare the maturity of their students without due regard to their relative age, resulting in higher rates of diagnosis among younger class members. . . . The late birth date effect is not the only factor creating unease about ADHD. Multiple studies, including the WA study, have established boys are three to four times more likely to be medicated for ADHD. If, as is routinely claimed, ADHD is a neurobiological disorder, a child’s birthdate or gender should have no bearing on their chances of being diagnosed.”

WALTER HUDSON: 3 Easy Tips for Raising Your Daughter in Trump’s America.

Really, this is solid, apolitical advice no matter who sits in the Oval Office.

MY FATHER DIED YESTERDAY. He did so peacefully, and surrounded by family and friends. It wasn’t unexpected, so I had a lot of posts scheduled for today. This column from a few weeks ago tells the story pretty well.

I’m not going away, but I’m taking a week off from the USAT column, and blogging here — by me, at least, as the co-bloggers are stepping up nicely — will be lighter than usual.

And here are some words from Charles Black that mean a lot to me:

In process of letting go the breath,

Imperfectly; you will remember love itself.

REAL NEWS:

How will Secretary Tillerson cope?

ANOTHER SINALOA CARTELISTA EXTRADITED TO THE U.S.: Looks like a follow-up to the Joaquin Guzman extradition. Jesus Beltran Leon worked as a bodyguard for one of the sons of the Sinaloa senior commander. But Beltran Leon is a big fish, too. He faces drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the U.S.

PERHAPS SARAH HOYT WILL LET ME BORROW HER SHOCKED FACE: U.S. Border Patrol Chief Morgan asked to leave the agency.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan, a former longtime Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, has left the agency, two sources familiar with his departure told Reuters on Thursday.

Morgan told employees on a phone call Thursday morning that he was not resigning but had been asked to leave by the Trump administration, said a Department of Homeland Security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Morgan’s departure comes one day after President Donald Trump announced a broad plan to crack down on border security, including directing the construction of a wall along the border with Mexico.

The border patrol union, which endorsed Trump’s presidential campaign and applauded his executive order, had been critical of Morgan. The union criticized Morgan for supporting former President Barack Obama’s plans to safeguard certain undocumented immigrants from deportation.

At the very least, Morgan’s departure ought to improve morale.

END OF THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE: American parachute infantrymen and a light tank continue to push the Germans back. This is the last photo in StrategyPage’s Battle of the Bulge commemorative series. The Bulge officially ended January 25, 1945. Though fighting with remnant German forces in the area persisted, by the last week of January 1945 the US-German front lines were about where they were on December 16, 1944 when the battle began.

RELATED: Over this coming weekend I’ll link to the photos I missed. I think there are about a half-dozen. I promised I’d eventually link to all of them. Next week I’ll select a couple I found memorable. In the comments section of that post Instapundit readers may link to a photo in the series (one each, please) they liked or found particularly striking. And tell us why you selected it. Many of the comments by Instapundit readers on the Bulge photos have been poignant and moving, especially those by readers who had relatives who fought in the battle.

REVIEW: Ruger LCP II Pistol. I have the first-gen LCP and it’s a nice little gun, although it needed a couple of hundred rounds of break-in before it fed reliably.

TALIBAN OPEN LETTER TO TRUMP: ‘Unwaveringly Accept’ Defeat in Afghanistan.

Nation-building is out, but mowing the lawn never gets old.

AT AMAZON, Interesting Finds, updated daily.

Plus, up to 60 percent off in Outdoor Recreation.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Trump is playing with the press: He’s gaslighting them and they fall for it every time.

HAVE SPACESUIT, WILL TRAVEL: Boeing Unveils New Spacesuits for Starliner Astronaut Taxi.

Boeing got the weight down to a mere 20 pounds, and they’re pretty sharp given their purpose.

FRONTLINE’S TRUMP DOCUMENTARY: “We watched it. It’s sort of like 2 documentaries edited together, one made by a someone who wanted a glossy, neutralish story of how Trump became President and another by someone with some edge who wanted to bring out the ominous dark side. Almost as if the show is based on sort of an ‘alternative facts’ concept.”

BULLY PULPIT: Trump creates name-and-shame list to embarrass sanctuary cities.

Keep in mind that the “bully” in “bully pulpit” refers to its utility, and not to any actual bullying.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Cleanly placing atomically precise graphene nanoribbons.

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT: CFPB Chief Cordray Urged to Run for Ohio Governor.

The mood of the country — and especially the Rust Belt states that made Trump president — is not “Let’s promote the failed chief of an unloved and unconstitutional federal bureaucracy.”

BAD TEACHER: Texas Teacher Screams “DIE” While Shooting Water at Trump Inauguration Video in Class.

Video at the link.

KURT SCHLICHTER: Can Creepy Leftist Weirdos Create A Progressive Tea Party?

Now the question is whether the Democrats can pull off the same thing, because you know they want to – sort of. Don’t believe the comfortable lie liberals tell themselves – the Tea Party was no astroturfed, community organized event. It was largely spontaneous, brought into being mainly by people who had learned their organizational skills running small businesses, churches, and community events. Sure, the charlatans came along later, but in its prime the Tea Party was just normal people pushing into politics as a way of pushing back against liberal intrusion into their lives.

Of course, that decentralization was what frustrated the GOP Establishment – they could not control the beast. The Tea Party did its own thing, famously defying the bosses with various levels of success. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio: Good. That oddball who went on TV to deny being a witch: Not so good. And the Tea Party held the Establishment’s Gucci loafered feet to the fire – instead of just going through the motions, now the GOP had to start performing. That’s happened with various levels of success, but just remember that Obamacare is going to be dead in the very near future. Revenge is a dish best served cold – think iced tea.

Now, can this collection of leftist strange-os and commies, feminists and femboys, do the same?

Not without plenty of Astroturf and Soros money — which isn’t the same at all.

NEWLY DISCOVERED HORMONE MAY BOOST LIBIDO: “Good news for guys struggling with low sex drive: Injections of a hormone called kisspeptin may jumpstart your lagging libido, scientists from the U.K. say. The researchers discovered that injecting the newly-discovered, naturally-occurring hormone stimulated areas of the brain typically activated by sexual arousal and romance. Research is still preliminary, but it’s possible the findings may one day be used to treat men with psychological sexual problems—commonly occurring in those struggling with infertility.”

QUESTION ASKED: Will France Sound the Death Knell for Social Democracy?

Social democracy is the perfect example of H.L. Mencken’s comment that “the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” But Marine Le Pen’s Nationalist Front is more of the same, just with different bosses and different state-selected winners and losers.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Printed human body parts could soon be available for transplant.