The Morning Rant: Minimalist Edition

Ukraine's border war with Russia is a small conflict. No matter what the hysterics and the military/industrial complex grifters say about it, the odds of it expanding into the rest of Europe are low. Russia has demonstrated its military limitations in a conventional conflict by being unable to achieve its modest goals in Ukraine after 900 days of operations.

If the evaluations of the various European countries that are much closer to that conflict than America were suggestive of an expansion into central Europe, there would be a much more energetic push, including troops on the ground and the use of European air power. It is telling that there is a lot of talk, mostly pushing NATO (that means America) to do more, but absent French and German troops on the front lines, that is political blather designed to maximize American participation.

But...many people see the conflict as indicative of the future of warfare, with cheap commercial drones repurposed as surprisingly effective weapons of war, and the battle space that was expected to be overwhelmed by high tech missiles and stealth aircraft are instead being controlled by counter measures that are surprisingly effective.

But they are still churning through those weapons at a startling rate, in addition to the incredible expenditure of low-tech artillery shells and plain old rifle ammo.

And as Kurt Schlichter observes, In post-industrial America, we can't build those weapons fast enough to supply our own forces in the event of a major conflict. Add in the typical stupidity of our procurement process, the refocusing of our military on more important things like what shade of red pumps goes with BDUs, and the resupply of Ukraine and Israel without a robust system to replace that weaponry, and we are in a bit of a pickle.

What Is Happening in the Ukraine War Should Scare the Hell Out of Us

Here’s what no one talks about because it’s not exciting or cool – America fights with logistics. We overwhelm the enemy with stuff, including stuff that goes “Boom!” In the Gulf War, we moved a city to the middle of the desert, then moved it forward in an attack. But we can’t do that today. Our military-industrial base has withered. The arsenal of democracy has become the gun-safe of democracy. We cannot just spin up to rearm once the next war – which is coming – starts. That goes for artillery tubes, tanks, planes, and ships – the Chinese Navy is now bigger than ours and growing exponentially faster. Maybe their stuff is not as good as ours ship-to-ship – though with the Chinese spies here in America running rampant stealing our secrets because the FBI is busy arresting grandmas for praying at abortion mills, their ships probably are our ships – but the enemy has something we do not have. It’s “quantity.”
The fighting in Ukraine diverges massively from how we train to fight. Look at the drone factor. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians are using drones as precision weapons – the web is full of videos of drones taking out tanks, fortifications, and individual soldiers. Our enemies know about it. Hamas used drones to take ou[t] IDF defenses on October 7th. Our bases in the Middle East are getting hit with cheap drones; we have taken dead and wounded from them. We’re not droning up like the enemy; we’re not prepared to defend against the swarms of them that are coming.
The Ukrainian and Russians are innovating, adapting, and improvising, finding new solutions to new problems. Our ossified military, which once relied on American ingenuity to win, cannot do that. At the procurement level, our methods of buying new weapons are guaranteed to provide the wrong system for too much money far too late. At the soldier level, innovation will be discouraged by a risk-averse officer corps with warfighting as its last priority. Do you think US troops are going to be able to obtain a bunch of cheap drones and make them into tank killers themselves without going through some arduous process? They innovated in Ukraine, though. Our future foe will be nimble, agile, and run circles around our bureaucracy.

Read the whole thing...it is excellent and sobering.

The counter-argument is that what Schlichter describes has always been the status quo before America's wars. And that is correct. Sclerotic and rigid officers and civilian management of our armed forces is typical, but are quickly retired and revamped and refocused as we are blooded. But the logistics time line in modern warfare is measured in years, not weeks. Spooling up to build 300,000 warplanes in World War II took us a short time. Spooling up nonexistent industries to build incredibly complex modern weaponry will take far longer, and even basic stuff like artillery shells and small-arms ammunition will be problematic. And those officers? Where are we going to find the good ones to replace the lipstick-wearing cross-dressers?

The reality is that we are already far behind, and a Harris/Walz/Obama administration will be the final nail in the coffin of American influence in the Pacific, and very possibly everywhere else!

[Crossposted at CutJibNewsletter]

Posted by: CBD at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 st!

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:00 AM (HnUIn)

2 Not first.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 11:00 AM (QNSds)

3 Vote for me and I’ll build the wall, make Mexico pay for it, and lock Hillary Clinton up!

Posted by: Kamala at August 27, 2024 11:01 AM (u73oe)

4 Ukraine's border war with Russia is a small conflict. No matter what the hysterics and the military/industrial complex grifters say about it, the odds of it expanding into the rest of Europe are low.
++++
It's not small.

It *is* contained. It's a regional conflict that is unlikely to spread, but it also isn't small. It's consumed our entire armory. And Russia's. And multiple armies on both sides.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:01 AM (HnUIn)

5 Didn't Germany and Poland both recently say no more money to Ukraine?

Posted by: BruceWayne at August 27, 2024 11:01 AM (CIS44)

6 Ukraine still has the same problem it has always had. I cannot tell what the hell is going on because I trust neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian Triumphalism. Both sides have their proponents and both seem to believe that either Ukraine is going to sack moscow or russia is going to put the torch to Kiev.

You all suck.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 27, 2024 11:02 AM (y31cs)

7 Willowed: That was a toad, and their defense is toxic urine.
------------------
I like meeting people that know things about toad urine.
Posted by: Pudinhead at August 27, 2024

***
"Fox urine! I figure it to last me all winter."

"If you drink it really slowly," I said, "it might last you *two* winters."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at August 27, 2024 11:02 AM (J2vNu)

8 It's no big deal. Just completely unserious people who have never faced danger nor any personal risk making decisions about provoking a nuclear power.

NOTHING to worry about!

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at August 27, 2024 11:02 AM (zjgNU)

9 8 It's no big deal. Just completely unserious people who have never faced danger nor any personal risk making decisions about provoking a nuclear power.

NOTHING to worry about!
Posted by: Formerly Virginian at August 27, 2024 11:02 AM (zjgNU)

=======

One might call them chickenhawks.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, reminiscing about lost times with Orson Welles at August 27, 2024 11:02 AM (GBKbO)

10 But...many people see the conflict as indicative of the future of warfare, with cheap commercial drones repurposed as surprisingly effective weapons of war, and the battle space that was expected to be overwhelmed by high tech missiles and stealth aircraft are instead being controlled by counter measures that are surprisingly effective.

But they are still churning through those weapons at a startling rate, in addition to the incredible expenditure of low-tech artillery shells and plain old rifle ammo.
++++
It's why it's worth paying attention to. It shows people how to fight a war with the weapons at hand, and is reteaching an important, forgotten lesson (for the US - Russia never forgot it): "quantity is a quality of its own."

The US assumption of war with small amounts of fiercely powerful and reliable stuff will likely prove to be a poor assumption.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:03 AM (HnUIn)

11 For a small conflict, they certainly did get a lot of our money.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 27, 2024 11:03 AM (+4yJ5)

12 Slacking today
It's been a drag out war no one seems to want to end
There is Big money in war

Posted by: Skip at August 27, 2024 11:03 AM (fwDg9)

13 Drill, baby, drill!

Posted by: Kamala at August 27, 2024 11:03 AM (u73oe)

14 You all suck.

Posted by: Aetius451AD

This is always the wisest position.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:03 AM (xCA6C)

15 Only citizens can vote!

Wait, not that one.

Posted by: Kamala at August 27, 2024 11:04 AM (u73oe)

16 I think we have influenced enough thank you.

We are currently influencing Europe. How's that working out?

We are the baddies.

Posted by: Tech Sgt. Chen at August 27, 2024 11:05 AM (Z8Yh2)

17 Think of Ukraine as the Spanish Civil War, or our own Civil War--it's the proving ground for the methods and technologies that the coming big war will make heavy use of (the Second and First World Wars, respectively, for my examples).

Posted by: Brother Tim learned to stop quibbling and love the Protestant Reformation at August 27, 2024 11:05 AM (OUMaO)

18 I have had a thought-

How many of our generals have EVER been in danger?

How many have seen ACTUAL combat? (And I don't mean commanding from behind the scenes.)

Our leaders, almost universally have never faced any danger.

We are led by unserious people who act like it's all a game.

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at August 27, 2024 11:05 AM (zjgNU)

19 Make America Superb Once More!

Posted by: Kamala at August 27, 2024 11:05 AM (u73oe)

20 It's not just American lives the Democrats are gambling with, it's millions around the world.

And all we hear is, "but can uh get muh abortions?"

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at August 27, 2024 11:05 AM (VAkB9)

21 We’re not droning up like the enemy; we’re not prepared to defend against the swarms of them that are coming.
++++
No, we droned up American style: big. We send a small drone formation armed with heavy weapons from half a world away. That serves - or served - our purposes as the imperial capital.

But a non-imperial war - a war of close fighting in territory between local belligerents - is better served by swarms of cheap shit that can get through and drop a grenade. Losses are huge, but the losses are also cheap and defense is very difficult.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:05 AM (HnUIn)

22 Russia has demonstrated its military limitations in a conventional conflict by being unable to achieve its modest goals in Ukraine after 900 days of operations.
-----------------
Meh, Russia is the only one demonstrating adult reasoning in the face of childish behavior. He called Biden and NATO on their bluf. Seems Biden is no longer a player. Neither is Victoria Nudelman. Soon, Zelensky will depart the stage. But there was great grift for the grifters.

Posted by: Pudinhead at August 27, 2024 11:05 AM (FmapG)

23 The reality is that we are already far behind, and a Harris/Walz/Obama administration will be the final nail in the coffin of American influence in the Pacific, and very possibly everywhere else!
-----------------
My next vote will be proudly cast for President Xi.

Posted by: Tim Walz at August 27, 2024 11:05 AM (VVpKI)

24 We are so far behind the curve on modern warfare we are fvcked. Even if Trump gets in and forces the military to modernize he only has 4 years and virtually nothing will happen. Especially when it takes 5-7 years just to get enough new equipment to the troops to start testing.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 11:06 AM (QNSds)

25 Didn't this crap start under Obama's watch?

Posted by: BignJames at August 27, 2024 11:06 AM (AwYPR)

26 Willowed:

I think that Harris has outdone herself:

https://tinyurl.com/5n7zuk8d

Translation: "Shut uuuuuupp!!!"
Posted by: Oddbob at August 27, 2024 10:53 AM (/y8xj)

It would've been nice if the interviewer had been smart enough to ask Coconut Harris exactly what "issues are just settled".

It's truly tiresome of these Low IQ hacks declaring certain issues as "settled" and so not open for discussion.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:07 AM (eDfFs)

27 4 Ukraine's border war with Russia is a small conflict. No matter what the hysterics and the military/industrial complex grifters say about it, the odds of it expanding into the rest of Europe are low.
++++
It's not small.

It *is* contained. It's a regional conflict that is unlikely to spread, but it also isn't small. It's consumed our entire armory. And Russia's. And multiple armies on both sides.
Posted by: Joe Mannix
======
Resembles Iran Iraq quagmire in the 1980's in some ways. Simply put, Russia AND Ukraine plus its 'allies' miscalculated. Putin believed the Pan Slavic bullshit and an easy victory--NATO idiots believed that mere proclamations of Ukraine joining it would forestall Putin's invasion, and Ukraine spent too much time playing political games in the West and doing foolish things to try to regain areas lost in 2014. So NATO/US and Ukraine poked and prodded a willing Bear that saw a chance to replay the Maidan Revolt that kicked its puppet out of office.

Then you have the grifters, killers, and Risk aficionados playing their games with real people affected by it.

Unspeakably vile on all sides.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:07 AM (kW+z9)

28 It's not small.

It *is* contained. It's a regional conflict that is unlikely to spread, but it also isn't small. It's consumed our entire armory. And Russia's. And multiple armies on both sides.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:01 AM (HnUIn)

I disagree. The disputed territory is confined to one country's eastern border, and the possibility of expansion is tiny.

The amount of ordnance expended is a testament to the inefficiency and poor planning of the two armies, and the novel technology of a new war, but that doesn't make it a big war.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:08 AM (d9fT1)

29 I have no interest in yet another pointless debate about Ukraine. No minds here have ever changed as a result. However, one might consider that Ukraine and Russia have done us a favor, in that they've shown how the wars of the future are likely to be fought, especially given that China is by far the most prolific manufacturer of drones.

If we're paying attention at all, it will become much harder for China to even contemplate a Taiwan invasion. In particular, the advent of long loitering underwater systems such as the Manta Ray drone will make a cross-channel invasion almost impossible. If.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:08 AM (xCA6C)

30 Has our military used illegals to boost front line units?

Because most of the senior, experienced leaders, both officer and NCOs, have been pushed out.

Instead we have a lot of immune system compromised weaklings that can not perform as before. The COVID-19 Wuhan vacinne was the kill shot in so many ways.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:08 AM (u82oZ)

31 24 We are so far behind the curve on modern warfare we are fvcked. Even if Trump gets in and forces the military to modernize he only has 4 years and virtually nothing will happen. Especially when it takes 5-7 years just to get enough new equipment to the troops to start testing.
Posted by: Mister Scott
=======
So we stop trying to be the World's Policeman and suck it up by not starting nor maintaining any existing wars. The American Trading Empire is done--like England, we need to fix our homefront now not Euroland, Ukraine, the Middle East, Taiwan, etc.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:09 AM (kW+z9)

32 Regarding drones: second look at 10 gauge?

Posted by: Tech Sgt. Chen at August 27, 2024 11:09 AM (Z8Yh2)

33 "The counter-argument is that what Schlichter describes has always been the status quo before America's wars. And that is correct. Sclerotic and rigid officers and civilian management of our armed forces is typical, but are quickly retired and revamped and refocused as we are blooded."

This is true and it's always worked out before!

This is a great argument, except that it worked like that for Rome. They would get beaten by new tactics and have to adjust and finally come out victorious EVERY time... until they didn't.

There's a warning there, but the gods of the copybook headings are being ignored.

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at August 27, 2024 11:09 AM (zjgNU)

34 China, through all of what is going on, has not got their hair mussed nor expended any of their resources. But all that is talked about is Russia and Ukraine.

Posted by: tubal at August 27, 2024 11:10 AM (PCK5/)

35 I think the Ukraine - Russia war is being managed here in the US by Congress. Not the Pentagon.

That would explain an awful lot.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 27, 2024 11:10 AM (Q4IgG)

36 Unspeakably vile on all sides.
-----------------
True. But you need to add that there was nothing to win in Ukraine. Still isn't.

Posted by: Pudinhead at August 27, 2024 11:10 AM (FmapG)

37 Are U2 and other big name rock bands still flying in and out and "raising awareness" and the dance clubs still the biggest and fastest growing industry in Ukraine during this war?

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:10 AM (VEFiD)

38 There are absolutely no good guys in the Uke war. And that includes the US.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at August 27, 2024 11:10 AM (g8Ew8)

39 The Ukrainian and Russians are innovating, adapting, and improvising, finding new solutions to new problems.

$60 drone carries a grenade into a group and goes boom.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at August 27, 2024 11:10 AM (m5o7j)

40 Instead we have a lot of immune system compromised weaklings that can not perform as before. The COVID-19 Wuhan vacinne was the kill shot in so many ways.
Posted by: NaCly Dog
======
Mebbe. Remains to be seen but I would not serve under a Democrat administration because those decisionmakers consider troops as expendable in their policy decisions.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:11 AM (kW+z9)

41 Putin believed the Pan Slavic bullshit

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:07 AM (kW+z9

? aren't Ukrainians slavs?

Posted by: BignJames at August 27, 2024 11:11 AM (AwYPR)

42 No worries, our leaders in DC (on both sides of the aisle) will be happy to send our sons and daughters into the meatgrinder battles with our enemies, because they care not how many Americans are maimed and killed to fight their forever wars. They'll take illegals, too, when they run out of our kids, makes no difference to them.

We've seen this in Ukraine, and the interesting part is the age of those they send to the battlefield to die - more older people than young. Wiping out entire generations, making room for Lord knows what the globalist elites have planned for Ukraine now that the towns, farms, and citizen are being wipes out. . .

Posted by: Lizzy at August 27, 2024 11:12 AM (Pijte)

43 "Russia has demonstrated its military limitations in a conventional conflict by being unable to achieve its modest goals in Ukraine after 900 days of operations."

I'm not sure about this. I think Russia succeeded on its goals and then some. It now occupies something like 4x more territory than it did before, including adding some very important and strategic territory in Odessa.

And remember, this wasn't Russia vs. Ukraine. This was Russia vs. Ukraine and The Entire Western World. Had it not been for the bazillions in aid and support from Europe and the USA, Ukraine would have collapsed in a weekend.

Oh: And Russia's economy is now stronger than before, and it has increased its worldwide influence through oil/gas exchange and currency. It's the West that's weaker now, not Russia.

I think Russia made out like bandits in this war. This was a big victory for them.

Posted by: Doctor Elric Blade, Esq. at August 27, 2024 11:12 AM (iFTx/)

44 Again, we really haven't fought a war since the end of WWII, and in the last 60 or so years, we've fought poorly equipped savages where the only beneficiary of these wars has been the War Machine and the globalist hordes.

And these poorly equipped savages have fought the worlds only hyperpower to a stalemate.

So that's where we are in end stage America, a shambling husk of a nation that's ambling toward oblivion, more than likely headed by an Un-American Cackling buffoon and her cornpone marxist Manchurian sidekick.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 27, 2024 11:12 AM (XV/Pl)

45 I think the Ukraine - Russia war is being managed here in the US by Congress. Not the Pentagon.

That would explain an awful lot.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 27, 2024 11:10 AM

My impression is State department is calling all of the shots in Ukraine and Israel as well. I doubt the military is being tasked with anything except to find ever increasing munitions to send to ukraine. That and to cook the books so it looks like they constantly have extra $$$$ to send even more stuff than congress authorized.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (QNSds)

46 Going into debt so much, for the graft throughout the Deep State, will soon be a mission kill for the US.

We seem to lack the ability to recover.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (u82oZ)

47 However, one might consider that Ukraine and Russia have done us a favor, in that they've shown how the wars of the future are likely to be fought, especially given that China is by far the most prolific manufacturer of drones.
----
Nah.
All my learning of future wars was done via Metal Gear Solid 1-5.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (VAkB9)

48 "Unspeakably vile on all sides."

Unserious.

Posted by: Tech Sgt. Chen at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (Z8Yh2)

49 I like you, CBD, I do. But you know nothing about the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Russia's kill ratio is unprecedented and biblical. Over 600k dead Ukrainians - marching like the Light Brigade at the behest of American neocons. Obscene and evil what we've willed to happen there. You're right this is not dominos to Putin but to conclude Russia couldn't win in 900 days completely misses the point.

Posted by: Steve at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (BNHMg)

50 >>There are absolutely no good guys in the Uke war. And that includes the US.

Considering that Biden had pushed for the war, and pressured Zelensky repeatedly to NOT seek peace with Russia, yes. We are the bad guys, too.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 27, 2024 11:14 AM (Pijte)

51 ... Spooling up nonexistent industries to build incredibly complex modern weaponry will take far longer, and even basic stuff like artillery shells and small-arms ammunition will be problematic.
++++
The "Arsenal of Democracy" was made possible in large part by three things:
1. A large industrial base
2. Extensive industrial expertise
3. Obsolescence

The second and third are subsets of the first, perhaps, but are key. How did we spin up world-smashing capacity in basic weapons like artillery and guns? We did it with obsolete stuff under greased tarps out back. It wasn't the best equipment, but we *had* it. The number of weapons factories that sprang up nearly overnight was unreal, but we had the stuff to do it. Between the Depression and the march of progress, we had a lot of machine inventory and people who knew how to use them. IBM could throw up a building, haul in old typewriter equipment, make some modifications and start turning out M-1s in a couple of months.

We don't have that anymore. We no longer have piles of machinery under greased tarps. We no longer have vast numbers of industrial production engineers packed into every nook and cranny of the country.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:14 AM (HnUIn)

52 So that's where we are in end stage America, a shambling husk of a nation that's ambling toward oblivion, more than likely headed by an Un-American Cackling buffoon and her cornpone marxist Manchurian sidekick.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 27, 2024 11:12 AM

It should get sporty because we are the only "empire" in the history of the world where a large percentage of the population is heavily armed.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 11:14 AM (QNSds)

53 Our military-industrial base has withered.

Errr, Schlichter's point aside, this sentence needs work. It's the industrial base that's lacking, not the mil-def complex. I have a hard time believing our mil-contractors are smaller than they were 20 years ago.

It's not that Boeing/General Dy/etc have shrunk. It's more to the point that they are incredibly costly and still can't provide the foundational war-engine.

My personal jag is the fact that we let almost all of our electronic mfr capability be taken overseas. Can you name one domestic modem/router mfr? I can't.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 27, 2024 11:15 AM (IG4Id)

54 That Harris is ahead in most polls is just mind boggling to me. It tells me the country is so polarized that people are willing to vote against their best interests.

Posted by: IC - #FJB at August 27, 2024 11:15 AM (ZtyUu)

55 I think Russia made out like bandits in this war. This was a big victory for them.

Posted by: Doctor Elric Blade, Esq. at August 27, 2024 11:12 AM (iFTx/)

I understand your point, but the reality is that Russia is still fighting a border war that by all measures they should have won in a month.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:15 AM (d9fT1)

56 Has our military used illegals to boost front line units?

Because most of the senior, experienced leaders, both officer and NCOs, have been pushed out.

Has anyone checked the Goths to see if they're interested in being in the Army? That worked out pretty well for the Romans.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:16 AM (xCA6C)

57 47 Nah.
All my learning of future wars was done via Metal Gear Solid 1-5.
Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (VAkB9)

=======

3 was set in the past.

Check and mate.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, reminiscing about lost times with Orson Welles at August 27, 2024 11:16 AM (GBKbO)

58 We are so far behind the curve on modern warfare we are fvcked. Even if Trump gets in and forces the military to modernize he only has 4 years and virtually nothing will happen. Especially when it takes 5-7 years just to get enough new equipment to the troops to start testing.
Posted by: Mister Scott

Just train our soldiers to adapt. And build up an industrial base that can more quickly transform to wartime production. No one knows exactly how the next big war will be fought.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (g8Ew8)

59 I like you, CBD, I do. But you know nothing about the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Russia's kill ratio is unprecedented and biblical. Over 600k dead Ukrainians - marching like the Light Brigade at the behest of American neocons. Obscene and evil what we've willed to happen there. You're right this is not dominos to Putin but to conclude Russia couldn't win in 900 days completely misses the point.

Posted by: Steve at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (BNHMg)

You gonna' skool us?...I'll wait.

Posted by: BignJames at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (AwYPR)

60 We don't have that anymore. We no longer have piles of machinery under greased tarps. We no longer have vast numbers of industrial production engineers packed into every nook and cranny of the country.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:14 AM (HnUIn)

America used to be a country known for its engineers.

What are we known for now?

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (zjgNU)

61 whig

SEAL team training is having a lot more dropouts that can't handle the intensity. Weakening standards is next, which degrades one of our sharpest weapons.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (u82oZ)

62 True. But you need to add that there was nothing to win in Ukraine. Still isn't.
Posted by: Pudinhead
======
That has been true of almost all postwar WWII wars that the US has blundered into.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (kW+z9)

63 The near-future battlefield looks like it'll be a horrific place to try to survive.

Properly armed drone swarms will be almost impossible to stop. Blinding lasers are in existence now. Etc, etc.

I guess the new innovation will be that there will be no safety in support areas. There will be no exact battlefront as enemies try to hit anywhere they can with drone swarms, near the battlefront or far away.

Aaaaaand, of course, thanks to Coconut Harris and Senile Joe, we probably have Chinese military and Islamic moles seeded throughout our homeland.

It probably means that we have to nuke our opponents stupid to get the "win". Buuuut, that also means we receive some nuke as well.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (eDfFs)

64 "Russia has demonstrated its military limitations in a conventional conflict by being unable to achieve its modest goals in Ukraine after 900 days of operations."

Something I don't think I have heard, and is worth discussing: "Rules of Engagement".

The US have lost a lot of conflicts after being bogged down in wars of attrition where they cannot "Do The Needful". Shit happens, and rather than being able to take initiative (see the OODA loop), they were forced to follow up with some lawyer halfway across the world to give the go-head to shoot back, hours after the hit-and run had gone and ran.

Biden's Bug-Out in Afghanistan killed our guys because a sniper had to ask permission rather than forgiveness, and the response wasn't swift enough (or was actively denied).

TRUMP almost died for the same *ucking reason. Comperatore wasn't as lucky, murdered because some jackhole was asleep at the radio and wouldn't or couldn't give a shoot order to the counter-sniper.

That's a reason our military, despite the strength and technology, doesn't crush the enemy; butterbars and possibly-actual-treason leaders have mistaken who the enemy and allies actually are.

What's Russia's excuse?

Posted by: Another Anon at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (QNMaY)

65 @52

>>It should get sporty because we are the only "empire" in the history of the world where a large percentage of the population is heavily armed.

Ehh, the fact that a large mass of the population is armed will make it interesting but will ultimately prove inconsequential to the aims of the lunatics running the world.

Or alternatively...

Go long on palm sized smooth stones.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (XV/Pl)

66 Well I DO believe we're going to lose the next serious war we get manipulated into by our """elites""", but we have the ability and capacity to 'drone' up.

We are making and shipping pallets of cardboard drones (yes, really) that can carry cameras, munitions, are cheap AF and have even less of a signature to electronics.

The naval and arty stuff, yeah, that's a problem. We are ruled by dumbasses.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (xcxpd)

67 What we really need.

https://is.gd/vwLa3b

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (L/fGl)

68 Russia supplies China with their energy requirements. Coal, gas, and oil. Very lucrative, and nothing the West can do about it.

Posted by: tubal at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (PCK5/)

69 The secret to winning a war is to be the last to join it with the mostest muscle. The worst thing is to be the first to join it.

Posted by: Pudinhead at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (FmapG)

70 America used to be a country known for its engineers.

What are we known for now?
Posted by: Formerly Virginian at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (zjgNU)
++++
Engineers, albeit different kinds.

Social.
Software.
Financial.
Political.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (HnUIn)

71 Go long on palm sized smooth stones.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (XV/Pl)

*adds to cart*

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (xcxpd)

72 Formerly Virginian

Crime and Fentanyl distribution.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (u82oZ)

73 "...to conclude Russia couldn't win in 900 days completely misses the point."

Posted by: Steve at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (BNHMg)

What is the point?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (d9fT1)

74 Are U2 and other big name rock bands still flying in and out and "raising awareness" and the dance clubs still the biggest and fastest growing industry in Ukraine during this war?
---
You know wars are heap big dangerous when the chief of the American teachers union visits.

FFS, and the media treated it as serious. Not one single question allowed as to why in the F she went.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (VAkB9)

75 I understand your point, but the reality is that Russia is still fighting a border war that by all measures they should have won in a month.

It's my guess that if Putin could go back in time, he'd choose not to invade.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (xCA6C)

76 I can only find political leanings, and 80% of (D)s support the Ukraine war vs 45-50% of (R)s.

It sure would be interesting to know the percentages of voters who support the U.S. war with Russia who aren't threatened in any way by a U.S. draft, wouldn't it?

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:19 AM (VEFiD)

77 Didn't this crap start under Obama's watch?

You'll have to be more specific. Some crap he started, some he just made crappier.

Posted by: Oddbob at August 27, 2024 11:19 AM (/y8xj)

78 67 What we really need.

https://is.gd/vwLa3b
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (L/fGl)

That is not a nude, wiggly Vanessa Munley in my lap.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:19 AM (xcxpd)

79 Unfortunately, this is how I've come to look at Ukraine/Russia conflict, which is not 'small' at all: In George Orwell's 1984, the previous boundaries of states and countries have been destroyed. Instead, three massive states (Oceania, Eastasia, and Eurasia) seem to compete in a constantly changing set of battles that are, in reality, a stalemate.

Ukraine is on top (seeming to lean towards civilian area attacks) for days and then suddenly Russia is back on top droning the Ukraine's capital, around the nuclear plant, lots of electrical utilities.

>WaPo, Updated June 12, 2024 at 9:43 a.m. EDT 'U.S. lifts weapons ban on Ukrainian military unit
The decision was made following a State Department review of the Azov Brigade, a onetime militia now part of Ukraine’s National Guard.

"The Biden administration will allow a Ukrainian military unit with a checkered past to use U.S. weaponry, the State Department said Monday..".

(Also see Azov Brigade, Steven Bandera - Wikipedia)

We'll be picking sh*t with the chickens in another forever war.

Posted by: L - If they'll do it with you, they'll do it to you, too at August 27, 2024 11:19 AM (NFX2v)

80 Israel’s military said Tuesday it had rescued a 52-year-old hostage held by Hamas since October 7, in a “complex operation” in southern Gaza. Kaid Farhan Al-Qadi, a Bedouin Israeli citizen from Rahat in southern Israel, was rescued from a tunnel in southern Gaza by Israeli forces, an Israeli military spokesman told CNN.

Posted by: SMOD at August 27, 2024 11:19 AM (RHGPo)

81 My kid is in the reserves and is deploying this week. 14 months. He'll have 100 guys he's responsible for. We have people in places we have no business being. I'm not sure what needs to change. Except everything.

Posted by: nckate at August 27, 2024 11:19 AM (4bYb7)

82 61 whig

SEAL team training is having a lot more dropouts that can't handle the intensity. Weakening standards is next, which degrades one of our sharpest weapons.
Posted by: NaCly Dog
======
DEI is another explanation to that if they are taking unqualified gits in the first place but I will take your word that the vaxx caused it. You have obviously studied the problem and I haven't considered it much as far as affecting strength and intensity of training.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:19 AM (kW+z9)

83 What we really need.

https://is.gd/vwLa3b
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (L/fGl)
++++
That is not what need. Not the sentiment, not the video, not the people making the video.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:19 AM (HnUIn)

84 "Russia has demonstrated its military limitations in a conventional conflict by being unable to achieve its modest goals in Ukraine after 900 days of operations."

-

I thought it was pretty well accepted that war was good for an economy.

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:20 AM (VEFiD)

85 We don't have that anymore. We no longer have piles of machinery under greased tarps. We no longer have vast numbers of industrial production engineers packed into every nook and cranny of the country.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:14 AM (HnUIn)

America used to be a country known for its engineers.

What are we known for now?

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM

Printing money out of thin air to prop up the World's economy. Everyone knows it and when that heavy deficit spending stops, so does the world's economy.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 11:20 AM (QNSds)

86 Late to the comments, but for a nice depressing read, look for Commander Salamander's running commentary on US military capabilities and readiness:

https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/

Posted by: Commissar Hrothgar (hOUT3) ~ This year in Corsicana - again! ~ at August 27, 2024 11:20 AM (hOUT3)

87 "I understand your point, but the reality is that Russia is still fighting a border war that by all measures they should have won in a month."

Have you considered that we are being bled dry so to speak in Ukraine? Paying for Uke citizens is not Russia's problem, we are footing the bill. The longer it goes the more USA stuff gets wasted there. Money, guns, personel.

Posted by: Tech Sgt. Chen at August 27, 2024 11:21 AM (Z8Yh2)

88 It's my guess that if Putin could go back in time, he'd choose not to invade.
Posted by: Archimedes

I agree. He misestimated badly.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at August 27, 2024 11:21 AM (v6JzV)

89 We are weak because the left asked ‘Why should America be the only superpower?’.

The left want us weak for conquest by communism. But islam is gonna surprise the left.

Posted by: Eromero at August 27, 2024 11:21 AM (wHOXM)

90 @55

>>I understand your point, but the reality is that Russia is still fighting a border war that by all measures they should have won in a month.

Russia has largely achieved what they sought, so the "fighting" you are seeing is mostly for public consumption and a ruse to continue funneling tax dollars through the money troughs and sluices that the well connected get to dip their beak into.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 27, 2024 11:21 AM (XV/Pl)

91 That Harris is ahead in most polls is just mind boggling to me. It tells me the country is so polarized that people are willing to vote against their best interests.

Thats the thing ... they don't even perceive their own best interests the same way you and I do. They don't give personal physical and economic security the slightest thought.

"We" have got to stop screwing up these basics assumptions if we're to have any chance of success against them.

Posted by: Remember When at August 27, 2024 11:22 AM (dVxi/)

92 Every dollar "sent" to Ukraine is kicked back in some percentage to our political class.

I'd like to know what that percentage is. It must be significant because this grifting operation has been running about as long as the covid one did... if not longer.

You want to know how politicians get rich? That's how. Taking your tax dollars and whatever they can swipe from the Treasury's printing office after it's been properly laundered.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 27, 2024 11:22 AM (Q4IgG)

93 Have you considered that we are being bled dry so to speak in Ukraine? Paying for Uke citizens is not Russia's problem, we are footing the bill. The longer it goes the more USA stuff gets wasted there. Money, guns, personel.
Posted by: Tech Sgt. Chen

-

That's an interesting point. Didn't some MSM source report a year or so ago that we were dangerously low on some certain type of round and that we needed to increase money and production because rah-rah-rah?

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:22 AM (VEFiD)

94 Uhm who cares what a solider can or can’t do. What matters is that they use the correct pronouns.

Posted by: Write it off Jerry at August 27, 2024 11:22 AM (smVi0)

95 It's my guess that if Putin could go back in time, he'd choose not to invade.
Posted by: Archimedes

I agree. He misestimated badly.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at August 27, 2024 11:21 AM

Just like Mister hilter he listened to the wrong people. I am certain he was told it would be a30-60 day operation and it would be over. 900 days later they are pulling tanks from the 1960s out of mothballs and sending as many as they can get running to the front.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 11:22 AM (QNSds)

96 55 I think Russia made out like bandits in this war. This was a big victory for them.

Posted by: Doctor Elric Blade, Esq. at August 27, 2024 11:12 AM (iFTx/)

I understand your point, but the reality is that Russia is still fighting a border war that by all measures they should have won in a month.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:15 AM (d9fT1)

Defense is depth is a bitch kitty. The Ukes were ready for the invasion after the Crimea theft and the mutual fuckery in the Donbass.

Slav on slav, this was always going to be a long war. And with most of the West providing logistics and 'aid', the Ukes are still in the fight.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:23 AM (xcxpd)

97 Biden/Harris has done what Yamamoto could not.

U.S. Navy Has No Aircraft Carriers Deployed in the Pacific

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at August 27, 2024 11:23 AM (L/fGl)

98 52 It should get sporty because we are the only "empire" in the history of the world where a large percentage of the population is heavily armed.

Despite the numerous boating accidents.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 27, 2024 11:23 AM (+4yJ5)

99 I look at our politicians and Media ( but I repeat myself) that are so all in on supporting Ukraine, and know that I am not part of THAT team in any way, shape or form..

Posted by: tubal at August 27, 2024 11:24 AM (PCK5/)

100 34 China, through all of what is going on, has not got their hair mussed nor expended any of their resources. But all that is talked about is Russia and Ukraine.
Posted by: tubal

China has its own internal problems that have historically been problems for past Chinese rulers. Corruption and centralization of decisionmaking into one person causes that person to be fed bullshit by courtiers. I am sure underlings feel what Xi doesn't know won't hurt them. The recent storm in Peking over corruption in its missile programs and deployment didn't get much notice over here.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:24 AM (kW+z9)

101 Materiel is one thing. Men are another. If true, big war came, we would have trouble finding the men. We already are having trouble, and it isn't just the decline in physical fitness. That can be fixed if needed by adding a "far farm" phase to boot camp. It adds time, but it isn't unsolvable.

But the motivation and willingness problem is more important. Young people and especially young men increasingly - and it's hard to disregard the opinion - view the system as rigged in general and rigged against them in particular.

Nobody gives his all to defend a rigged system. Soldier quality is going to be in the pits, even if we have the materiel and that's a *very* much harder problem to solve.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:24 AM (HnUIn)

102 I think Russia made out like bandits in this war. This was a big victory for them.

Posted by: Doctor Elric Blade, Esq. at August 27, 2024 11:12 AM (iFTx/)

I understand your point, but the reality is that Russia is still fighting a border war that by all measures they should have won in a month.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:15 AM (d9fT1)
______

Russia is basically fighting the entire Western world. So it took them longer than expected. But I think it succeeded beyond their expectations.

As Schlicter writes, Russia is coming out of this much stronger, while the West (and especially the USA) is coming out weaker. That's an awfully nice outcome for Russia from what amounts to a discrete border dispute with a nobody country.

I see this similar to Israel and Hamas. Israel should have crushed these maggots in a week. And could have. But Israel too is fighting not only Hamas, but the entire Western world.

Posted by: Doctor Elric Blade, Esq. at August 27, 2024 11:24 AM (iFTx/)

103 Just like Mister hilter he listened to the wrong people. I am certain he was told it would be a30-60 day operation and it would be over. 900 days later they are pulling tanks from the 1960s out of mothballs and sending as many as they can get running to the front.

They've been finding 1930s era Soviet artillery on the battlefield.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:24 AM (xCA6C)

104 “Every dollar "sent" to Ukraine is kicked back in some percentage to our political class.”

It’s like unions. They send $1 to the Democrats. Then democrats give unions incredibly generous contracts that return $1.25. And of the 25 cents made, 23 goes to union bosses.

Posted by: Write it off Jerry at August 27, 2024 11:25 AM (smVi0)

105 My favorite part of the next war is going to be that it will require a draft.

And all the stronk, powrfull wymens will suddenly be demur housewives cooking in the kitchen.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at August 27, 2024 11:25 AM (VAkB9)

106 Russia has demonstrated its military limitations in a conventional conflict by being unable to achieve its modest goals in Ukraine after 900 days of operations.

Reminds me how they were saying the war would be over in 2 weeks. Just like the COVID shutdowns would be for only 2 weeks.

Gee, I feel lied to...

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 27, 2024 11:25 AM (ynpvh)

107 This is a non-problem. Frequency rate with which America has been assaulted on our own soil by a foreign military since WWII?

Zero times.

Ability of our own, standing army of career mercenaries to subdue a rebel force during CW 2.0?

Greatly reduced.

Potential to wrest freedom from 150 M petite tyrants?

Enhanced.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:25 AM (2Nk7Y)

108 Considering that Biden had pushed for the war, and pressured Zelensky repeatedly to NOT seek peace with Russia, yes. We are the bad guys, too.
Posted by: Lizzy at August 27, 2024 11:14 AM (Pijte)

I don't know that he "pushed" for the war but I do know that he said Russian aggression wouldn't be tolerated, unless it was a "minor incursion".
That kind of vague weasel-wording also goaded Saddam into belligerence with Kuwait, and what one side considers minor the other side has already chosen to portray as cassus belli.

So pushed maybe isn't the right word. Goaded might be.
But then you're left with the notion that our government has planned for wars in advance for whatever purpose.

I guess that does make us the baddies.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at August 27, 2024 11:25 AM (FCbAQ)

109 SEAL team training is having a lot more dropouts that can't handle the intensity. Weakening standards is next, which degrades one of our sharpest weapons.
Posted by: NaCly Dog
------------------
SEALs are luxury item that exists to make sailors feel manly. It takes nearly a full year to complete a basic SEAL. The attrition rate has always be sky high. The funny thing is the last phase of training a SEAL is land navigation and basic infantry tactics. They aren't that good at it. The one thing about SEALS I do like is their attitude to drive into the ville and see if anyone shoots at them. They don't do overplanning that is famous with the other snake eaters.

Posted by: Pudinhead at August 27, 2024 11:26 AM (FmapG)

110 Reminds me how they were saying the war would be over in 2 weeks. Just like the COVID shutdowns would be for only 2 weeks.

Gee, I feel lied to...
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 27, 2024 11:25 AM (ynpvh)

2 weeks to flatten the curve!!!

Posted by: IC - #FJB at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (ZtyUu)

111 >>>a Harris/Walz/Obama administration will be

Ahem!

a Harris/Walz/Obama administration *would* be

Posted by: m at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (64Zez)

112 >Has anyone checked the Goths to see if they're interested in being in the Army? That worked out pretty well for the Romans.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:16 AM (xCA6C)

If the sacking and burning of D.C. is on the table, I'm in favor.

Posted by: Heavy Meta at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (NgqoH)

113 "...to conclude Russia couldn't win in 900 days completely misses the point."

Posted by: Steve at August 27, 2024 11:13 AM (BNHMg)

What is the point?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:18 AM (d9fT1)

Looks like you skeered him off.

Posted by: BignJames at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (AwYPR)

114 @80 you'd think that the Israelis rescuing one of their Arab Bedouin citizens would make people rethink the whole Israel =apartheid BS. But leftist / jihadist aholes gotta ahole

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (FkiTJ)

115 2 weeks to flatten the curve!!!
Posted by: IC - #FJB at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (ZtyUu)
++++
And just one year to flatten society.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:28 AM (HnUIn)

116 I understand your point, but the reality is that Russia is still fighting a border war that by all measures they should have won in a month.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo

Has Russia really tried?
Siege of Stalingrad style?
Marching into Berlin style?

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at August 27, 2024 11:28 AM (m5o7j)

117 “Pathetic Cheater”: Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova Rips Italian Sprinter Set To Become First Transgender Woman To Compete At Paralympics

-
A lot to unpack there.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at August 27, 2024 11:28 AM (L/fGl)

118 Looks like you skeered him off.

The bigger the bluster, the less knowledgeable the blusterer.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:28 AM (xCA6C)

119 would:

— used to talk about a possible situation that has not happened or that you are imagining
You would look good in a tuxedo.
If I could leave work early, I would.
It would be a shame to miss the party.

Posted by: m at August 27, 2024 11:29 AM (64Zez)

120 a Harris/Walz/Obama administration will be

Ahem!

a Harris/Walz/Obama administration *would* be
Posted by: m

...an abomination.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at August 27, 2024 11:29 AM (m5o7j)

121 I would laugh and laugh if PLA Special Forces, acting as anti-tank weapons reinforced light infantry, went after the Kursk incursion strongpoint by strongpoint.

They would need strong anti-drone backup. Would be good experience, and could prevent what I regard as the next Russian move.

Which is to use existing neutron warheads on the top 3 or 4 Ukraine cities. Can't use anything bigger, because of prevailing winds.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:30 AM (u82oZ)

122 But the motivation and willingness problem is more important. Young people and especially young men increasingly - and it's hard to disregard the opinion - view the system as rigged in general and rigged against them in particular.
----------------
Yep.

Posted by: Pudinhead at August 27, 2024 11:30 AM (FmapG)

123 All I know about Ukraine is a lot of people dead and no white hats. Just various shades of grey leaning to black on both sides.

Posted by: Remember When at August 27, 2024 11:30 AM (dVxi/)

124 SEAL team training is having a lot more dropouts that can't handle the intensity. Weakening standards is next, which degrades one of our sharpest weapons.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (u82oZ)

It can't be that hard or exclusive to be a SEAL.
I've met more than a handful in my life and I'm a civilian.

Just kidding, but lotsa guys like saying they were/are SEALS to get the girls.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at August 27, 2024 11:30 AM (FCbAQ)

125 “Pathetic Cheater”: Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova Rips Italian Sprinter Set To Become First Transgender Woman To Compete At Paralympics

-
A lot to unpack there.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Yeah. Gotta make sure his balls don't get in the way.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (m5o7j)

126 56 Has anyone checked the Goths to see if they're interested in being in the Army? That worked out pretty well for the Romans.
Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:16 AM (xCA6C)

Cannot be pointed out often enough!

Posted by: m at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (64Zez)

127 My take is that the Russians can keep dragging this war out to deplete our munition supplies and also keep draining our overdrawn bank account. I will be waiting to see how the Russian battle plans change if PDT is elected.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (qLP0s)

128 This is a non-problem. Frequency rate with which America has been assaulted on our own soil by a foreign military since WWII?
Zero times.

Ahem. 9/11 anyone?

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (t2Ch6)

129 Nobody gives his all to defend a rigged system. Soldier quality is going to be in the pits, even if we have the materiel and that's a *very* much harder problem to solve.
---
Feds: We'll pay!
19 yo: With what, KamiBucks?
Feds: Yes, 10 billion KamiBucks! You'll be rich!
19 yo: A burger costs a million KamiBucks.

One of the funniest ancient Greek poems is a mercenary writing to his commander who is berating them for leaving the battle early, saying something like "Eh, I've done enough for my 12 cents today."

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (VAkB9)

130 25 Didn't this crap start under Obama's watch?

clinton's "peace dividend"

Posted by: anachronda at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (oY6Yp)

131 2 weeks to flatten the curve!!!
Posted by: IC - #FJB at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (ZtyUu)
-------

Three years to flatten Ukraine.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:32 AM (2Nk7Y)

132 I guess they are just like us.

Watch: Soccer Brawl Erupts In Rutgers-Umass Women’s Match

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at August 27, 2024 11:32 AM (L/fGl)

133 112 >Has anyone checked the Goths to see if they're interested in being in the Army? That worked out pretty well for the Romans.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:16 AM (xCA6C)

If the sacking and burning of D.C. is on the table, I'm in favor.
Posted by: Heavy Meta at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (NgqoH)

+1

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:32 AM (xcxpd)

134 Oh: And Russia's economy is now stronger than before, and it has increased its worldwide influence through oil/gas exchange and currency. It's the West that's weaker now, not Russia.

I think Russia made out like bandits in this war. This was a big victory for them.
Posted by: Doctor Elric Blade
=======
No, the Russian economy is not 'stronger' and in fact Russia destroyed any consumer industry and is straining to produce even a few of its traditional weapons. It is relying heavily on China, Iran, and North Korea for ammo, drones, and consumer goods. Rentier states are always at the mercy of their primary export and 70-80 dollar oil is not enough to pay for Russia's budget--they are running about a 2 percent deficit in GDP and blowing through reserves that were not seized.

As Bastiat explains in his Broken Windows thesis, spending a bunch of money on war production does not make a healthy economy because money spent uselessly on Putin's war in Ukraine is not available for Russian citizens and their wellbeing. Inflation, shortages, etc. abound in Russia and their civilian economy has shriveled.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:33 AM (kW+z9)

135 Watch: Soccer Brawl Erupts In Rutgers-Umass Women’s Match
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks,

Great judo style take down, and an absolute haymaker of a punch.

Posted by: BruceWayne at August 27, 2024 11:33 AM (CIS44)

136 “Pathetic Cheater”: Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova Rips Italian Sprinter Set To Become First Transgender Woman To Compete At Paralympics

Didn't she get cowed into reversing a similar position a couple of years ago?

Posted by: Oddbob at August 27, 2024 11:33 AM (/y8xj)

137 Just kidding, but lotsa guys like saying they were/are SEALS to get the girls.
---------------
It works like a charm in Coronado. In Honolulu the winner is the one wearing a flight suit in the O-Club dancing disco.

Posted by: Pudinhead at August 27, 2024 11:33 AM (FmapG)

138 32
‘ Regarding drones: second look at 10 gauge?’

Like you I’ve been speculating on what the poor man’s defense against drones is.
It seems like you would need to create a field of flying lead like a shotgun does but a larger field and a longer range. Something similar to what the NVA did to defend Hanoi; put up a field of lead and let the B-52s fly into it.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at August 27, 2024 11:33 AM (jbnUc)

139 rickb223

The mighty Red Army of 1945, or even 1943, is completely beyond Russia's ability.

They need troops from allies to nibble at the enemy. Finding China actively helping Russia may bring clarity and sanity to an insane war.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:33 AM (u82oZ)

140 This is a non-problem. Frequency rate with which America has been assaulted on our own soil by a foreign military since WWII?

Tee-Hee!

Posted by: Chinese "Weather" Balloon at August 27, 2024 11:34 AM (w9Wax)

141 Has anyone asked Joe if he would like to end it all by dying on the battlefield in The Ukraine?

Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at August 27, 2024 11:34 AM (FfSAJ)

142 This is a non-problem. Frequency rate with which America has been assaulted on our own soil by a foreign military since WWII?
Zero times.

Ahem. 9/11 anyone?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (t2Ch6)

Perhaps even Las Vegas. The massacre with "no known cause."

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:34 AM (eDfFs)

143 Seems to me - as others here have said - American armed forces have always succeeded when relying less on super-weapons, and more on good enough weapons in large quantity and superior logistics. That we've attempted to go in the other direction is probably going to bite us in the ass.

Posted by: Remember When at August 27, 2024 11:34 AM (dVxi/)

144 Ahem. 9/11 anyone?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (t2Ch6)
------

That was a foreign military op?

Then Hasan Nidal, the couple who shot up the homo night club, etcetera, ad nauseum are all foreign military ops, too? Islam is a monolith?

C'mon, man.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:35 AM (2Nk7Y)

145 The more I read about the founding of this country, the more I realize that history is currently repeating itself.

The traditional party paradigm has essentially been eliminated and replaced by those in support of the deep state establishment and those opposed to it.

What comes next may be glorious.

It could also be an alternative reality where England wins the war.

And all of this is because Trump dared step into the spotlight and say, "Enough."

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at August 27, 2024 11:35 AM (KbCG3)

146 clinton's "peace dividend"

Posted by: anachronda at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (oY6Yp)

Hillary's?

Posted by: BignJames at August 27, 2024 11:35 AM (AwYPR)

147 SEAL team training is having a lot more dropouts that can't handle the intensity. Weakening standards is next, which degrades one of our sharpest weapons.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (u82oZ)

It can't be that hard or exclusive to be a SEAL.
I've met more than a handful in my life and I'm a civilian.

Just kidding, but lotsa guys like saying they were/are SEALS to get the girls.
Posted by: OneEyedJack at August 27, 2024 11:30 AM (FCbAQ)
____

The more guys talk about being a SEAL, the less likely they actually were one. The closest I ever got to the military was being recruited by West Point (I had a thing against authority so I passed). But I have been around some true military badasses, and some others who weren't badasses but who saw some really bad shit and lived. They never talk about it.

It's always the chubby pillow-biting cowards like Walz that endlessly brag and lie about their service, as if they were Rambo.

Posted by: Doctor Elric Blade, Esq. at August 27, 2024 11:35 AM (iFTx/)

148 SEALs are luxury item that exists to make sailors feel manly. It takes nearly a full year to complete a basic SEAL. The attrition rate has always be sky high. The funny thing is the last phase of training a SEAL is land navigation and basic infantry tactics. They aren't that good at it. The one thing about SEALS I do like is their attitude to drive into the ville and see if anyone shoots at them. They don't do overplanning that is famous with the other snake eaters.
Posted by: Pudinhead at August 27, 2024 11:26 AM (FmapG)

There's a number of SEALs and retired SEALS around here, because Seattle. They're good shooters, I'll give them that. Higher than average asshole % though.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:35 AM (xcxpd)

149 Seems to me - as others here have said - American armed forces have always succeeded when relying less on super-weapons, and more on good enough weapons in large quantity and superior logistics. That we've attempted to go in the other direction is probably going to bite us in the ass.
Posted by: Remember When

-

Name the last war we won.

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:36 AM (VEFiD)

150 I didn't realize how many commenters are coastals. Must give you constant anxiety.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:36 AM (2Nk7Y)

151 {{{Ben Had}}}

Why would Russia want Trump? America will be so much weaker, and soon, from a Harris steal.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (u82oZ)

152 Name the last war we won.
Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:36 AM (VEFiD)
-----

CW 1.0

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (2Nk7Y)

153 All the arguments the hippie dove leftists made about getting out of the Vietnam war apply to why we should get out of the Russia/Ukraine war. The only difference is we don't have a draft sending our soldiers there to be slaughtered. Even the left, as war hawkish as they are about Ukraine, knows that would be political suicide.

It took a republican to get us out of Vietnam, though, it might take another one to get us out if Ukraine.

Posted by: LizLem at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (QAK8m)

154 Watch: Soccer Brawl Erupts In Rutgers-Umass Women’s Match
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at August 27, 2024 11:32 AM (L/fGl)

I'd say that was seriously disappointing, but it is just about what could be expected from the phrase "women's soccer fight".

Posted by: spindrift at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (OguvZ)

155 Food manufacturers tell Dallas Federal Reserve that increase in sausage sales is proof of weakening economy

-
Sounds like baloney to me.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (L/fGl)

156 You talk logistics and the Pacific. USNI four days ago. The US Navy is planning to berth one tanker and many replenishment ships because of a shortfall in manning for civilian mariners.

As for the Arsenal of Democracy, we no longer even have 10% of the industrial base we had in 1938. Nor have we had the Biden Administration do like FDR and pour money into expanding said base to support our allies and provide meaningful jobs to Americans.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (vyHIp)

157 142 This is a non-problem. Frequency rate with which America has been assaulted on our own soil by a foreign military since WWII?
Zero times.

Ahem. 9/11 anyone?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (t2Ch6)

Perhaps even Las Vegas. The massacre with "no known cause."

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:34 AM (eDfFs)

That was our 'own side' killing us. A US IC op.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (xcxpd)

158 Looks like you skeered him off.

Posted by: BignJames at August 27, 2024 11:27 AM (AwYPR)

I was curious what he was suggesting, since his comment was internally inconsistent!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (d9fT1)

159 127 My take is that the Russians can keep dragging this war out to deplete our munition supplies and also keep draining our overdrawn bank account. I will be waiting to see how the Russian battle plans change if PDT is elected.
Posted by: Ben Had
=======
Russia is burning through cash reserves and is now running a 2 percent of GDP deficit for the last several years. Inflation is rampant and shortages exist in the civilian economy. Notably, Putin is essentially putting hapless types from the periphery of the Russian Empire into the meatgrinder there. He is leaving alone St. Petersburg and Moscow from his conscription of cannon fodder.

Pardon me but I am a natural contrarian and in these days--so many people seem so sure based on the same damned media that feds us lies on a regular basis. Makes me search for the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey said and I found more complex handling of the Russian economy in a couple of clicks.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (kW+z9)

160 I didn't realize how many commenters are coastals. Must give you constant anxiety.
Posted by: insurgens ad opu

-

IIRC 80% of the U.S. population lives within 100 miles of the border.

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (VEFiD)

161 The counter-argument is that what Schlichter describes has always been the status quo before America's wars. And that is correct. Sclerotic and rigid officers and civilian management of our armed forces is typical, but are quickly retired and revamped and refocused as we are blooded. But the logistics time line in modern warfare is measured in years, not weeks.

Once upon a time the people who are needed to fix the shitfest were invested in "their" country. 12 years of an extended Obama administration have fixed that.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (IUd0M)

162 It took a republican to get us out of Vietnam, though, it might take another one to get us out if Ukraine.

I've seen rumors written that JFK was considering calling it a day ... as a potential cause for his assassination.

Posted by: Remember When at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (dVxi/)

163 Seems to me - as others here have said - American armed forces have always succeeded when relying less on super-weapons, and more on good enough weapons in large quantity and superior logistics. That we've attempted to go in the other direction is probably going to bite us in the ass.

That was the strategy we used with tanks in WWII: the Sherman was inferior in many ways to the German tanks, but had the advantage of very superior numbers. That's probably the way to go, unless you happen to be in the Sherman, facing off with a Tiger.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (xCA6C)

164 60
‘ What are we known for now?’
Facebook, iPhones, ungrateful celebrities

Posted by: Dr. Claw at August 27, 2024 11:39 AM (jbnUc)

165 I think that the only way this war ends is when Putin dies. I doubt that the probable confusion that follows will be conducive to Russia's continuing the war.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at August 27, 2024 11:39 AM (v6JzV)

166 138 32
‘ Regarding drones: second look at 10 gauge?’

Like you I’ve been speculating on what the poor man’s defense against drones is.
It seems like you would need to create a field of flying lead like a shotgun does but a larger field and a longer range. Something similar to what the NVA did to defend Hanoi; put up a field of lead and let the B-52s fly into it.
Posted by: Dr. Claw at August 27, 2024 11:33 AM (jbnUc)

Shottys are legit being used as drone defense.
If you can shoot trap/skeet, you can defend against many types of drones.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:39 AM (xcxpd)

167 That was our 'own side' killing us. A US IC op.

-

hahaha, the bump stock on a tripod and a few shell casings in the hotel room.

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:39 AM (VEFiD)

168 As for the Arsenal of Democracy, we no longer even have 10% of the industrial base we had in 1938. Nor have we had the Biden Administration do like FDR and pour money into expanding said base to support our allies and provide meaningful jobs to Americans.
Posted by: Anna Puma
=======
I agree. That is why I consider GHWB and GWB as some of the greatest traitors to America along with their Democrat counterparts since the Cold War ended.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:39 AM (kW+z9)

169 ‘ Regarding drones: second look at 10 gauge?’

Like you I’ve been speculating on what the poor man’s defense against drones is.
---
Not too long, and there'll be suicide anti-drones.
Key on the frequency of the rotor hum then proximity detonation.

But a poor man's version would have to be chaff, streamers of Christmas tinsel to clog the blades.

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at August 27, 2024 11:40 AM (VAkB9)

170 What have you seen from this country in the last 25 years (and I mean the officials of every stripe) that makes you think it has any desire to "win"?

Don't think about this question too long, it will hurt.

Posted by: ... at August 27, 2024 11:40 AM (4DWWO)

171 An old trope is that our military leadership is always preparing to fight the previous war.

Air Force legend Robin Olds father was an aide to Billy Mitchell and he attended the court martial as a boy. Billy Mitchell proved to the entrenched Army and Navy brass that air power, especially bombers, would be decisive in the next war.

Robin Olds became a fighter ace in World War 2 and a wing commander in Vietnam. During the Cold War, the Bomber and Missile Mafia became the entrenched power, and they felt that conventional war was obsolete. Robin Olds had to fight for conventional fighter pilots and close air support roles which were needed in Vietnam.

Whatever happens, I'm sure our so-called "experts" will be wrong.

Posted by: I M Simpleton at August 27, 2024 11:40 AM (cwq7b)

172 Putin hurt the country but Zoolandsky turned it into a husk.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at August 27, 2024 11:40 AM (cf/0E)

173 >>> 142 This is a non-problem. Frequency rate with which America has been assaulted on our own soil by a foreign military since WWII?
Zero times.

Ahem. 9/11 anyone?
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at August 27, 2024 11:31 AM (t2Ch6)

Perhaps even Las Vegas. The massacre with "no known cause."

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:34 AM (eDfFs)

Don't be silly. I did that all by myself. Just ignore the reports of gunshots all up and down the entire LV Strip.

Posted by: Zombie Stephen Paddock at August 27, 2024 11:41 AM (FnneF)

174 There's a number of SEALs and retired SEALS around here, because Seattle. They're good shooters, I'll give them that. Higher than average asshole % though.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:35 AM

Unfortunately that comes with the territory. As a SEAL you spend years or even decades being told you are the best of the best and that leaves a mark on your ego, especially as the number of missions they participate goes up.

In the Navy I have run across quite a few SEALS and most of them are OK but there are some dick heads in the mix that think they are better than everyone around them. When I was working at the Navy War College we had a chief of staff that was a former SEAL. Basically he aged out of the program after commanding a SEAL unit and they sent him to the War college to get to his 30 years for retirement. We used to joke with him that he knew 30 ways to kill us without a weapon. He was basically a nice guy, made Captain and then retired.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 11:41 AM (QNSds)

175 Doctor Elric Blade, Esq.

My favorite boss was a SEAL Commander. He was short, but very wiry and fit. Until his wife's first baby arrived. He drug his sorry ass to work with deep circles under his eyes for the next two months.

You did not mess with him.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 27, 2024 11:41 AM (u82oZ)

176 NaCly, Russia doesn't want PDT but if he is elected the whole color of this conflict changes. Should PDT'S election look inevitable, I see the Russians make one big land grab push and wait for the negotiated settlement

Posted by: Ben Had at August 27, 2024 11:41 AM (qLP0s)

177 167 That was our 'own side' killing us. A US IC op.
-
hahaha, the bump stock on a tripod and a few shell casings in the hotel room.
Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:39 AM (VEFiD)

According to a retired NCO I trust, listening to the audio, he said two belt feds.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:41 AM (xcxpd)

178 CPS Removes Autistic Boy From Military Family For Refusing His 'Transition'

Another "Childrens" hospital. Ya know, they should change the name from Hippocratic to Hypocritic Oath. That hospital, along with CPS needs a good swatting by the legal system and should owe a large amount of $$$ for their malfeasance.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 27, 2024 11:42 AM (ynpvh)

179 Notably, Putin is essentially putting hapless types from the periphery of the Russian Empire into the meatgrinder there. He is leaving alone St. Petersburg and Moscow from his conscription of cannon fodder.

There are numerous reports that the Russians have stripped lots of their other forces to deal with the Kursk salient (dang, I like saying that). It's so bad that they've taken men from their rocket / space forces, presumably among the most highly technically trained they have (but not trained at all as infantry).

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:42 AM (xCA6C)

180 Oh, sorry. Willowed article.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 27, 2024 11:42 AM (ynpvh)

181 That's probably the way to go, unless you happen to be in the Sherman, facing off with a Tiger.

If you'd like to raise your BP - read up on Lesley McNair's one man crusade to prevent a heavier tank from being deployed - or the Sherman to be significantly upgunned.

His friendly fire death during Cobra probably saved a significant number of American lives.

Posted by: Remember When at August 27, 2024 11:42 AM (dVxi/)

182 One of Germany's tank aces, Bachman, brewed up at least 25 American M-4 Shermans in about two weeks after Normandy. Even though his panzer was repeatedly hit and even set fire. By the end of the war Bachman had 86 tank kills.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 27, 2024 11:43 AM (vyHIp)

183 I've known a couple of seals, both of whom were good guys. And one of them was hilarious.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at August 27, 2024 11:43 AM (v6JzV)

184 According to a retired NCO I trust, listening to the audio, he said two belt feds.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo a

-

Ask his opinion on the helicopters.

The funniest part of the whole op is the video of the cops entering the room and shooting the guy and then full-auto fire continuing on their bodycams.

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:43 AM (VEFiD)

185 >That was the strategy we used with tanks in WWII: the Sherman was inferior in many ways to the German tanks, but had the advantage of very superior numbers. That's probably the way to go, unless you happen to be in the Sherman, facing off with a Tiger.

They did not engage unless they outnumbered 8 to 1. Which is impressive considering the 8 had to cross an ocean.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at August 27, 2024 11:43 AM (cf/0E)

186 180 Oh, sorry. Willowed article.
Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 27, 2024 11:42 AM (ynpvh)

I miss Willow.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:43 AM (xcxpd)

187 Defense is depth is a bitch kitty. The Ukes were ready for the invasion after the Crimea theft and the mutual fuckery in the Donbass.

Slav on slav, this was always going to be a long war. And with most of the West providing logistics and 'aid', the Ukes are still in the fight.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards
-----
Good comment. Wars are easily to get into and hard to get out of.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:44 AM (kW+z9)

188 I have always considered logistic prowess to be a (possibly *the* ) great gift to the US from God. For a very long time we did it better than any other nation. The push to make The State into a god has undermined that capacity in ways that will come as a huge surprise to TPTB when they get what they want and fully commit us to war.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 27, 2024 11:44 AM (s9EYN)

189 The Ukrainian attack into Kursk oblast was done for western eyes. Russia had minimal forces there and allegedly the Ukes wanted the Kursk nuke power plant. They got no where near it
Unfortunately the Russians are grinding the Ukes down in the Donetsk region in the east. I would be surprised vid the fighting continued into the new year.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 27, 2024 11:44 AM (FkiTJ)

190 Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at August 27, 2024 11:44 AM (s9EYN)

Always nice to see you 'round

Posted by: ... at August 27, 2024 11:45 AM (4DWWO)

191 whig, how does our deficit spending not get factored into this equation? I am open to any and all education.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 27, 2024 11:46 AM (qLP0s)

192 Patton's Third Army before the Battle of the Bulge had to slow its quick advance.

Why? Even with several major French ports and Antwerp in Allied control there still were not enough supplies to keep two American armies and one British army adequately supplied.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 27, 2024 11:46 AM (vyHIp)

193 I think that the only way this war ends is when Putin dies. I doubt that the probable confusion that follows will be conducive to Russia's continuing the war.

I've thought about that a lot. I'm not sure anyone who could take out Putin, and that's a big problem, would be willing to tell Russia "you know those hundreds of thousands of dead, your sons and brothers, yeah, it was all a big mistake. Never mind."

The Russians pulled out of Afghanistan with something like 15k dead after a decade. This is a very different situation. Still, it's the best outcome we can hope for that a Putin replacement would decide to do a Nixon and just get the hell out.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:46 AM (xCA6C)

194 >>SEAL team training is having a lot more dropouts that can't handle the intensity.

Well...you let women and trannies into training and your dropout rate isn't going to shrink.

Posted by: garrett at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (xZQNu)

195 This busty brunette on the beach is skeptical of all "information" about Ukraine or Russia:
http://tiny.cc/agvjzz

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (HnUIn)

196 I am open to any and all education.
Posted by: Ben Had at August 27, 2024 11:46 AM (qLP0s)

So many things I want to say to this but I promise I will be good.

Posted by: ... at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (4DWWO)

197 Re: Navy SEALS. Great respect, and the "earlier" their service, the higher my regard.

I have now surmised though, that the sheer weight of their Publicity and Widespread Fame has been quite deliberate. Remember, Schwartzkopf used 'em as a beach invasion diversion in GW 1. While Army Rangers and Delta were far head of the Hail Mary invasion route, scouting and setting up countless radio and nav beacons, a full week ahead of D-Day.

In the SF world, it's the ones you don't hear about, or read about, or see on TeeVee, that'll likely be the ones that actually getcha.

P.S. And they all laugh at the USAF, until the USAF Combat Controller* does the mission with 'em, and has the whole airborne arsenal at antenna's end.

* fully SF trained & qualified, plus Air Traffic Control, plus full knowledge of all airborne weapons delivery profiles and ground damage effects.

Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX

Posted by: Jim at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (kQgoX)

198 IIRC 80% of the U.S. population lives within 100 miles of the border.
Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (VEFiD)

And IIRC, the US government designated all the Great Lakes to be borders, which means Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, and many more are considered within that 100 miles.
Little bit of statistical puffery by the gov.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (FCbAQ)

199 Still, it's the best outcome we can hope for that a Putin replacement would decide to do a Nixon and just get the hell out.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:46 AM (xCA6C)

And America would rush in with a trillion $$ to rebuild Ukraine?

I would prefer a Russian victory.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:48 AM (d9fT1)

200 Most disturbing part of Ukraine to me it's a corrupt country
Fighting or supplying arms to make a small group wealthy isn't my thinking.

Posted by: Skip at August 27, 2024 11:48 AM (fwDg9)

201 199 And America would rush in with a trillion $$ to rebuild Ukraine?

I would prefer a Russian victory.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:48 AM (d9fT1)

=======

Which would also lead to America rushing in to give another trillion to Ukraine.

We're out a shit ton of money no matter what.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, reminiscing about lost times with Orson Welles at August 27, 2024 11:49 AM (GBKbO)

202 IIRC 80% of the U.S. population lives within 100 miles of the border.
Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (VEFiD)
-----

Think that means 80% of those who consume right-wing commentary also live on the coasts?

I mean, maybe, but my tummy tells me there's less correlation there than your data point supposes. Hey, but you had a data point on an internet comment thread, so that. Is. Something.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:49 AM (2Nk7Y)

203 Those astronauts stuck on the space station?

We have about six months to purchase 8 billion ape suits.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at August 27, 2024 11:49 AM (m5o7j)

204 That was our 'own side' killing us. A US IC op.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 11:37 AM (xcxpd)

Most likely a Saudi coup that went wrong, and had to be covered up by shooting in to the crowd.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 27, 2024 11:49 AM (D7oie)

205 >>The Ukrainian attack into Kursk oblast was done for western eyes.

They did manage to occupy the mostly unoccupied forest, though.

Posted by: garrett at August 27, 2024 11:50 AM (xZQNu)

206
A fews weeks ago we had to call a plumber and the guy who showed up had a Russianish accent.

So, I asked him, "Are you Russian?'

He got a sour look on his face and said, "No, I'm Ukrainian."

So, I said something brilliant like, "Ah...well...I guess that wasn't a great question to ask you."

naturalfake

Making Friends All Over the World!

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:50 AM (eDfFs)

207 Whatever happens, I'm sure our so-called "experts" will be wrong.
Posted by: I M Simpleton
=======
Demonstrably true. Part of it is the groupthink tendency where challengers to the status quo lack the conclusive 'proof' derived from actual combat that the status quo experts demand.

Kuhn and his talk of paradigms and their rise and fall is not studied much in STEM but used to be a commonly studied text in Social Sciences.

Ditto the value of pragmatism and satisficing/muddling through as adaptive techniques by decisionmakers in conditions of high uncertainty. See Herbert A Simon's work for those concepts.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:50 AM (kW+z9)

208 I understand your point, but the reality is that Russia is still fighting a border war that by all measures they should have won in a month.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 27, 2024 11:15 AM (d9fT1)

The losing side gets to decide when a war ends. As long as Zelensky can get troops to the front... by whatever means... and refuses to talk peace with the only people who matter, then the war shall continue.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 27, 2024 11:50 AM (IUd0M)

209 This busty brunette on the beach is skeptical of all "information" about Ukraine or Russia:
http://tiny.cc/agvjzz
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (HnUIn)

If I were younger, richer, better looking, and single I might consider striking up a conversation with her.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at August 27, 2024 11:50 AM (FCbAQ)

210 IIRC 80% of the U.S. population lives within 100 miles of the border.
Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (VEFiD)
++++
*A* border, IIRC.

There are a lot of borders. There's Mexico. There's Canada. There are the coasts. There are the Great Lakes.

And there is every single international airport. Every facility with an international port of entry also contains a border. Most of the population of Colorado lives within 100 miles of a border, thanks to Denver and Colorado Springs having international airports. Most of Georgia is within 100 miles of a border, thanks to Atlanta and Savannah. Pennsylvania is a border state, too, thanks to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and Harrisburg having international airports.

This is why DHS' "we can stop anyone within 50 miles of a border without probable cause" standard is so expansive.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:51 AM (HnUIn)

211 Those astronauts stuck on the space station?

We have about six months to purchase 8 billion ape suits.
Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at August 27, 2024 11:49 AM (m5o7j)

YASSS!!!

The world's greatest practical joke!

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:51 AM (eDfFs)

212 Amazing how the US has given away so much money along with the weapons of war.

In observance of neutrality, FDR and the US required cash on the barrelhead, and anyone could buy US weapons if they showed up. Naturally the Germans and Italians could not cross the Atlantic.

Then even that pretense of neutrality was thrown out the window with the passing of Lend-Lease.

But at first it was cold hard British and French money that helped to expand the American Arsenal of Democracy.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 27, 2024 11:52 AM (vyHIp)

213 >>> 198 IIRC 80% of the U.S. population lives within 100 miles of the border.
Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (VEFiD)

And IIRC, the US government designated all the Great Lakes to be borders, which means Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, and many more are considered within that 100 miles.
Little bit of statistical puffery by the gov.
Posted by: OneEyedJack at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (FCbAQ)

I was wondering about this - from context it made more sense to me as ~80% within 100 miles from a *coast*. Either way I'm not sure I buy that only ~60M are MORE than 100 miles from the coast, or even a border... seems like I could find several "land-locked" or interior states to get a total of more than ~20% of the official population.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 27, 2024 11:52 AM (FnneF)

214 It probably means that we have to nuke our opponents stupid to get the "win". Buuuut, that also means we receive some nuke as well.
Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:17 AM (eDfFs)

Maybe. Or it goes to guerilla war everywhere as industrial age governments and nations fall and are replace by something else.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 27, 2024 11:52 AM (IUd0M)

215 >>> Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:49 AM (2Nk7Y)

What is *your* point? How is distance from a coast relevant to... anything?

Are you trying to warn us about glowball warmening???

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 27, 2024 11:54 AM (FnneF)

216 And IIRC, the US government designated all the Great Lakes to be borders, which means Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, and many more are considered within that 100 miles.
Little bit of statistical puffery by the gov.
Posted by: OneEyedJack at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (FCbAQ)
-------

That's great. Hey, what are the odds somebody on a right-adjacent comment thread would use government data to prove a point in an argument? I mean, since we have so much inherent distrust of our government and stuff.

Maybe someone else can dazzle me with something an FBI whistleblower told a New York Times reporter to tell us to think. I hear unemployment is at an all-time low and Trump will end Democracy of elected. Oh, and you can't fight the gvt without F35s.

🙄

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:55 AM (2Nk7Y)

217 If we're paying attention at all, it will become much harder for China to even contemplate a Taiwan invasion. In particular, the advent of long loitering underwater systems such as the Manta Ray drone will make a cross-channel invasion almost impossible. If.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 11:08 AM (xCA6C)

Looks like the Chinese are doing the "'South China Sea' has our name in it so it's ours" thing to the Philippines again.

Posted by: pookysgirl, rolling her eyes at toddler-lwvsl politics at August 27, 2024 11:55 AM (dtlDP)

218 sometimes hot chicks in cosplay seem like a mistake, sometimes they make the mistake seem like a really good idea.

https://tinyurl.com/4au3bwks

Posted by: Kindltot at August 27, 2024 11:55 AM (D7oie)

219 If nothing else Joe her and me have something in common

Posted by: Skip at August 27, 2024 11:56 AM (fwDg9)

220 We have about six months to purchase 8 billion ape suits.
Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at August 27, 2024 11:49 AM (m5o7j)

Better yet...

EVERYBODY HIDE

Posted by: ... at August 27, 2024 11:56 AM (4DWWO)

221 IIRC 80% of the U.S. population lives within 100 miles of the border.

-----

Think that means 80% of those who consume right-wing commentary also live on the coasts?

I mean, maybe, but my tummy tells me there's less correlation there than your data point supposes. Hey, but you had a data point on an internet comment thread, so that. Is. Something.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus

-

I mean, you don't have to embrace knowledge if you don't want it. That's fine. No one is forcing anything on you. I just remembered actual data on a topic that may or may not have anything to do with what you're arguing about on the internet and found it interesting.

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:56 AM (VEFiD)

222 191 whig, how does our deficit spending not get factored into this equation? I am open to any and all education.
Posted by: Ben Had

We have massive economic problems ourselves but the US does not rely on a single export to basically pay for the government (aka rentier economy). Like Venezuela or other places that rely on selling a commodity like oil to fund the state, it is subject to some rather nasty constraints on the rest of the domestic economy despite aiding an authoritarian leader who does not rely on tax revenue from the people.

The economic miracles occur mainly by nations willing to produce consumer goods and services that benefit humanity. Not on throwing away a lot of money on large militaries because in the end, they cause a country more trouble than they are worth economically. Essentially military spending when you are in a deficit is Keynesian spending on a digging a ditch and then filling it up again. Temporary sugar high for the GDP but has little relation to individual well being in those countries.

Money is fungible and if spent on wars and militaries, it cannot be spent on alternative goods including civilian investment. We never see that reckoning.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:57 AM (kW+z9)

223 >>> 206
A fews weeks ago we had to call a plumber and the guy who showed up had a Russianish accent.

So, I asked him, "Are you Russian?'

He got a sour look on his face and said, "No, I'm Ukrainian."

So, I said something brilliant like, "Ah...well...I guess that wasn't a great question to ask you."

naturalfake

Making Friends All Over the World!

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 11:50 AM (eDfFs)

LOL

Sarah Hoyt, who emigrated here from *Portugal*, has mentioned her accent sounds Rooskie-ish to the point where people want her to say "Moose And Squirrel".

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 27, 2024 11:58 AM (FnneF)

224 Are you trying to warn us about glowball warmening???
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 27, 2024 11:54 AM (FnneF)
-----

Read. 'Find in page' is a powerful tool in modern web browsers.

Yes, I'm renown for my ecological stance. You should get vaxxed, too. It'll give you the strength of 10 grinches. Plus two.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:58 AM (2Nk7Y)

225 This contented gal doesn't care for politics.
https://i.yt___.com/vi/fNjPZTwonEg/maxresdefault.jpg

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at August 27, 2024 11:58 AM (t2Ch6)

226 >> Essentially military spending when you are in a deficit is Keynesian spending on a digging a ditch and then filling it up again. Temporary sugar high for the GDP but has little relation to individual well being in those countries.

But the Headlines...

Posted by: garrett at August 27, 2024 11:59 AM (xZQNu)

227 I'll try to find the article I remember, but the reason I knew about the "100 miles from a border" information was because apparently border patrol agents are granted extra legal powers within 100 miles of the border, which puts most of the U.S. under their jurisdiction.

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:59 AM (VEFiD)

228 >>> 210 IIRC 80% of the U.S. population lives within 100 miles of the border.
Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:38 AM (VEFiD)
++++
*A* border, IIRC.

There are a lot of borders. There's Mexico. There's Canada. There are the coasts. There are the Great Lakes.

And there is every single international airport. Every facility with an international port of entry also contains a border. Most of the population of Colorado lives within 100 miles of a border, thanks to Denver and Colorado Springs having international airports. Most of Georgia is within 100 miles of a border, thanks to Atlanta and Savannah. Pennsylvania is a border state, too, thanks to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and Harrisburg having international airports.

This is why DHS' "we can stop anyone within 50 miles of a border without probable cause" standard is so expansive.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:51 AM (HnUIn)

Oh, *this* makes sense, as defined by "our" Top.Men.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 27, 2024 11:59 AM (FnneF)

229 This busty brunette on the beach is skeptical of all "information" about Ukraine or Russia:
http://tiny.cc/agvjzz
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (HnUIn)

Nice

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 12:00 PM (xcxpd)

230 181 That's probably the way to go, unless you happen to be in the Sherman, facing off with a Tiger.
If you'd like to raise your BP - read up on Lesley McNair's one man crusade to prevent a heavier tank from being deployed - or the Sherman to be significantly upgunned.
========
McNair has ended up on the wrong side of history for riding herd on Patton & not being interested in the "breakout". However, it's been shown that Tiger Fever was unwarranted & German heavy armor was dismissed as a game-changer before Overlord began. Bluntly speaking, the Tigers couldn't be everywhere, and if they were present the local geography minimized their gun range & maneuverability. The average German armor the Shermans leading the attack faced were Pz IVs and StG IIIs, not exactly cutting edge tech, which the Shermans could handle. The top killers of Shermans were the StG III and Pak 40 75mm towed gun, both of which usually engaged formations from ambush. (The Pak 40 battery from Fury had the worst aim!)

Posted by: exdem13 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT at August 27, 2024 12:00 PM (W+kMI)

231 Looks like the Chinese are doing the "'South China Sea' has our name in it so it's ours" thing to the Philippines again.
Posted by: pookysgirl

China is repeating the same idiocy as Imperial Japan. Putting troops on isolated islands that are difficult to supply and well within missile and drone range of their opponents. US air and naval power ended the Japanese tactic and missiles and drones are likely to end China's efforts if it ever goes to war.

Missiles, torpedoes, and drones are cheaper than ships and men and cut off from resupply means those men are essentially POWs on isolated atolls in the S. China Sea that become militarily useless.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 12:00 PM (kW+z9)

232 Guns at Last Light covers very well the supply problems of the Allies advance

Posted by: Skip at August 27, 2024 12:00 PM (fwDg9)

233 his contented gal doesn't care for politics.
https://i.yt___.com/vi/fNjPZTwonEg/maxresdefault.jpg
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

Doesn't work for me.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at August 27, 2024 12:01 PM (v6JzV)

234 There we are. It wasn't this article, but it covers the topic:

"In 1946, Congress quietly passed a statute giving U.S. Customs and Border Protection the authority to stop and search all vehicles within a “reasonable distance” from the border. Shortly thereafter, the agency defined that distance as 100 miles from all land borders and coastlines, thus crowning themselves kings of what is now known as the “100-mile zone,” an area in which nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population lives. That regulation, which effectively allows border officers to disregard key Fourth Amendment protections within that area, has remained in place ever since."

https://tinyurl.com/23efzurp

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 12:01 PM (VEFiD)

235 169
‘ But a poor man's version would have to be chaff, streamers of Christmas tinsel to clog the blades.’

Those are some good ideas. Of all being talked about, drones are the problem I think I’ll most likely be facing.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at August 27, 2024 12:02 PM (jbnUc)

236 >>> Posted by: insurgens ad opus at August 27, 2024 11:58 AM (2Nk7Y)

Oh FFS. Fine.

Is it that time of the month?

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 27, 2024 12:02 PM (FnneF)

237 whig, thank you. I think I get it.

Posted by: Ben Had at August 27, 2024 12:02 PM (qLP0s)

238 Then you have the grifters, killers, and Risk aficionados playing their games with real people affected by it.

Unspeakably vile on all sides.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 11:07 AM (kW+z9)

Including young, and some not so young, being dragged off the street to feed the grinder. We need to go back to the times when leaders led from the front.

Posted by: javems at August 27, 2024 12:02 PM (8I4hW)

239 Sarah Hoyt, who emigrated here from *Portugal*, has mentioned her accent sounds Rooskie-ish to the point where people want her to say "Moose And Squirrel".
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at August 27, 2024 11:58 AM (FnneF)

I swear Gru, from Despicable Me has a Portuguese accent too.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 27, 2024 12:03 PM (D7oie)

240 I'll try to find the article I remember, but the reason I knew about the "100 miles from a border" information was because apparently border patrol agents are granted extra legal powers within 100 miles of the border, which puts most of the U.S. under their jurisdiction.

Posted by: Moron Robbie, Black Tik-Tok Influencer at August 27, 2024 11:59 AM

I just looked it up and yes they have a 100 mile operating range from any external border. And they have super powers within that zone.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 12:03 PM (QNSds)

241 192
‘ Even with several major French ports and Antwerp in Allied control there still were not enough ’
That’s why the Nazis fortified and held onto French ports so tight.
To a degree the Atlantic wall strategy worked.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at August 27, 2024 12:03 PM (jbnUc)

242 I think that the only way this war ends is when Putin dies.

Then the west "wins" and can continue in its efforts to enslave the human race for globohomo.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 27, 2024 12:04 PM (IUd0M)

243
The American character, spirit, psyche and Judeo-Christian ethics have been so thoroughly eviscerated from most people who came of age from late baby boom onwards.

Unless a radical transformation takes place and now, we are likely doomed as even a shadow of the free and prosperous society we were founded to be.

I grieve, and I pray.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at August 27, 2024 12:04 PM (x0n13)

244 > pooling up to build 300,000 warplanes in World War II took us a short time.

In the 1930s, the US Army spent some time with the biggest manufacturers and made it plain that they had to be ready to do things like shift from autos to tanks on short notice. They even had the contracts signed.

Now? We don't even have the factories, much less the will.

Posted by: comradearthur at August 27, 2024 12:04 PM (OdNzD)

245 I was wondering about this - from context it made more sense to me as ~80% within 100 miles from a *coast*. Either way I'm not sure I buy that only ~60M are MORE than 100 miles from the coast, or even a border... seems like I could find several "land-locked" or interior states to get a total of more than ~20% of the official population.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket

Technically speaking, everything north of Huntsville, Texas is more than 100 miles from the coast.

DFW Metroplex population alone is 8.1 million.Arkansas is 3.5 million. Oklahoma is 4.08 million. Kansas is 3.2 million Nebraska is 1.978, Iowa is 3.214

That's almost half of the 60 right there and I didn't even count most of Texas.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at August 27, 2024 12:04 PM (m5o7j)

246 Yep, Panthers were quite adequate to handle the Sherman.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 27, 2024 12:04 PM (vyHIp)

247 https://alurmedya.com/uploads/thumbs/aba365f75-social.jpg

Try this

Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism in Solidarity with the Struggle at August 27, 2024 12:05 PM (t2Ch6)

248 This busty brunette on the beach is skeptical of all "information" about Ukraine or Russia:
http://tiny.cc/agvjzz
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at August 27, 2024 11:47 AM (HnUIn)
_______

Getting some tranny vibes from that face. Verdict: Unbangable.

Posted by: Doctor Elric Blade, Esq. at August 27, 2024 12:05 PM (iFTx/)

249 Does Boeing make drones?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 27, 2024 12:05 PM (63Dwl)

250 That was the strategy we used with tanks in WWII: the Sherman was inferior in many ways to the German tanks, but had the advantage of very superior numbers. That's probably the way to go, unless you happen to be in the Sherman, facing off with a Tiger.
Posted by: Archimedes

That's a widely held misconception, regarding the Sherman. A big factor was actually crew experience. In the Battle of Arracourt, Shermans and Tank Destroyers in 3rd Army completely outfought an equal number of German Panzer IV's and Panzer V's, because of bad visibility initially, negating some of the Panzer's effectiveness, but also inexperience of the German Panzer crews.
The Tiger broke down a lot, because of the weakness of their "final drive" gearing, and the weight of the Tiger. They had a great gun and armor....when they could actually get to the battlefield and stay there.

Posted by: A face in the crowd..... at August 27, 2024 12:05 PM (vcOmj)

251 https://alurmedya.com/uploads/thumbs/aba365f75-social.jpg

Try this
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

Oh, thanks for that. Still better than Ackbar's stuff, but sheesh.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at August 27, 2024 12:06 PM (v6JzV)

252 249 Does Boeing make drones?
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 27, 2024 12:05 PM (63Dwl)

Jah. The MQ-25 and -28 among many others

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 12:06 PM (xcxpd)

253 Presuming Trump wins I'm guessing the Ukraine war will end with the breakaway provinces joining Russia as they wanted from the start.

Which is what Russia was offering for peace more then a year ago.

So many wasted lives.

If Harris gets installed I assume the war will continue until the US runs out of money.

Posted by: 18-1 at August 27, 2024 12:07 PM (oZhjI)

254 Does Boeing make drones?
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 27, 2024 12:05 PM (63Dwl)

and it comes slow, and right down the middle, and . . .

"They employ them, yes"

Posted by: Kindltot at August 27, 2024 12:07 PM (D7oie)

255 German heavy armor was dismissed as a game-changer before Overlord began. Bluntly speaking, the Tigers couldn't be everywhere

That was the point. Tigers were more capable, but much harder and more expensive to build, so they were a very imperfect solution to the problem of vast masses of Shermans.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 12:07 PM (xCA6C)

256 exdem13

AnimEgio's Kickstarter for Kamui no Ken is live.

And at CD Japan you can pre-order the 4K HD release on Blu-Ray of Macross: Do You Remember Love set to release on Jan 29, 2025.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 27, 2024 12:07 PM (vyHIp)

257 Does Boeing make drones?
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 27, 2024 12:05 PM (63Dwl)

Jah. The MQ-25 and -28 among many others
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 12:06 PM (xcxpd)

But, they're all currently stuck on a space station, so...

Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 12:08 PM (eDfFs)

258 257 Does Boeing make drones?
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 27, 2024 12:05 PM (63Dwl)

Jah. The MQ-25 and -28 among many others
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 12:06 PM (xcxpd)

But, they're all currently stuck on a space station, so...
Posted by: naturalfake at August 27, 2024 12:08 PM (eDfFs)

snort

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 12:08 PM (xcxpd)

259 Heh, I knew if I mentioned Shermans and WWII, it would get some folks spun up. It's the equivalent of longbows and Maryanne.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 12:08 PM (xCA6C)

260
I just looked it up and yes they have a 100 mile operating range from any external border. And they have super powers within that zone.
Posted by: Mister Scott

X-ray vision and super hearing.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 27, 2024 12:09 PM (63Dwl)

261 This beautiful girl on the beach is glad that she can express her opinion on news coverage regarding Ukraine and Russia (She wants peace) without having to display her breasts in order to do so:

https://tinyurl.com/mtuatmue

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 27, 2024 12:10 PM (dTTBf)

262 https://i.yt___.com/vi/fNjPZTwonEg/maxresdefault.jpg
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

Doesn't work for me.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at August 27, 2024 12:01 PM (v6JzV)

1. Replace the underscores with IMG.
2. It's not worth it.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 27, 2024 12:10 PM (IUd0M)

263 *blinks at Tensor*

It seems everyone's Likes have vanished. And here I am cruising towards a thousand likes.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 27, 2024 12:10 PM (vyHIp)

264 At the procurement level, our methods of buying new weapons are guaranteed to provide the wrong system for too much money far too late. At the soldier level, innovation will be discouraged by a risk-averse officer corps with warfighting as its last priority.

Since I work in this space, this is spot-on. DoD procurement is the Boeing debacles writ large. One of the biggest issues is there are top decision-makers who are both brand-loyal (for a variety of reasons) to the "Beltway Bandits", e.g. LockMart, Raytheon, et al/ad nauseam, and unable to understand current and rapidly-developing technology. Many of them are MBA-types and think accordingly. Many more of them are focused on the dual tasks of protecting their rice bowls and growing their empires rather than rapid innovation. Add to that the absolutely asinine bureaucratic process: from concept to fielded system will usually take at least a decade; one of the major limiting factors: the Program Objective Memorandum (POM) process, in which a program designated to receive funding will usually not see any of those funds until two years after approval.

Posted by: Bert G at August 27, 2024 12:10 PM (VARTN)

265 237 whig, thank you. I think I get it.
Posted by: Ben Had
=====
Not every economic concept can be expanded to the macro level of countries from the individual level but Bastiat's famous Broken Windows thesis is relatively true at the macro level as well as the individual level.

Basically, it posits that breaking a shop keeper's window today will spur economic growth because the shop keeper will have to buy a new window plus hire it installed and the glazier will have to pay people to make it and so on. So, like wars, if you break something and make it useless, your economy benefits. Classic Keynesian economics that by stimulating demand, it will cause the economy to grow to supply that demand.

However, Bastiat points out that money spent on replacing the window means the shop keeper has less money which may mean not expanding the shop, not paying workers more, not putting the money into the bank where it earns interest but funds other productive work, and so on.

Thus, useless expenditures do not 'grow' the economy--they simply change how the money is spent and you cannot foresee what productive use of that money might have been to the benefit of all.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 12:10 PM (kW+z9)

266 The American character, spirit, psyche and Judeo-Christian ethics have been so thoroughly eviscerated from most people who came of age from late baby boom onwards.

Unless a radical transformation takes place and now, we are likely doomed as even a shadow of the free and prosperous society we were founded to be.

I grieve, and I pray.
Posted by: J.J. Sefton at August 27, 2024 12:04 PM (x0n13)

Happy Birthday, JJ!

God makes nations rise and he makes them fall.
Barring a massive repentance, I think we're on the downslope.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at August 27, 2024 12:10 PM (xcxpd)

267 Something also of note in the Russo-Ukraine War. The US has supplied a lot of GPS guided munitions to the Ukraine Army.
They have reached a null level of effectiveness, because Russian EW can jam the GPS signals over the battlefield, and render them useless.
This could have a huge impact on the US waging war somewhere against a "near peer" military (which I hope we don't ever do), as the military's reliance on GPS guided munitions could end up being a fools errand, as they could be nullified.

Posted by: A face in the crowd..... at August 27, 2024 12:11 PM (vcOmj)

268 Do you think US troops are going to be able to obtain a bunch of cheap drones and make them into tank killers themselves without going through some arduous process? They innovated in Ukraine, though. Our future foe will be nimble, agile, and run circles around our bureaucracy.

We can pray an Elon -type, perhaps Elon himself , is working on the ‘rods from God’ system.

Posted by: Eromero at August 27, 2024 12:11 PM (LHPAg)

269 This beautiful girl on the beach is glad that she can express her opinion on news coverage regarding Ukraine and Russia (She wants peace) without having to display her breasts in order to do so:

Advantage: Fen

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 12:12 PM (xCA6C)

270 We can pray an Elon -type, perhaps Elon himself , is working on the ‘rods from God’ system./i]

Musk's exchange with Maduro would have been very different if he actually did have space based weaponry.

Posted by: 18-1 at August 27, 2024 12:12 PM (oZhjI)

271

Posted by: 18-1 at August 27, 2024 12:12 PM (oZhjI)

272 Has anyone asked Joe if he would like to end it all by dying on the battlefield in The Ukraine?

Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at August 27, 2024 11:34 AM (FfSAJ)

--------------

Especially since Beau died their in a fire pit!

Posted by: ShainS -- Kommie-la 2024: The Fundamental Transtarvation of America! at August 27, 2024 12:12 PM (4k/PG)

273 I think DHS is full of crap about a lot of things. That goes for statistics about borders. Actually I'd be more inclined to take those sorts of statistics into account if the regime & deep state 1) acknowledged we have functional borders that need maintaining and 2) they acted like they gave a rat's ass about maintaining & protecting said borders. I guess we'll have to wait for Trump to do something about it.

Posted by: exdem13 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT at August 27, 2024 12:12 PM (W+kMI)

274 pooling up to build 300,000 warplanes in World War II took us a short time.

In the 1930s, the US Army spent some time with the biggest manufacturers and made it plain that they had to be ready to do things like shift from autos to tanks on short notice. They even had the contracts signed.

Now? We don't even have the factories, much less the will.

Posted by: comradearthur at August 27, 2024 12:04 PM

We only have one tank manufacturing plant and it has been placed on mothballs. Plus the experienced people who know how to make those tanks have all been retired and not been replaced.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 27, 2024 12:13 PM (QNSds)

275 Spooling up to build 300,000 warplanes in World War II took us a short time. Spooling up nonexistent industries to build incredibly complex modern weaponry will take far longer, and even basic stuff like artillery shells and small-arms ammunition will be problematic. And those officers?

---------------

Those officers had to be found in WW2 too and in Civil War. Both should be guides. I have more faith in America's ability to mobilize maybe than others. Giving a bigger budget to the current flag officers of our Armed Forces seems far riskier to me.

Posted by: SH (no more socks) at August 27, 2024 12:13 PM (sX1BW)

276 Nood Zuck.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 27, 2024 12:13 PM (IUd0M)

277 New, Zuck

Posted by: Archimedes at August 27, 2024 12:14 PM (xCA6C)

278 They innovated in Ukraine, though. Our future foe will be nimble, agile, and run circles around our bureaucracy.

Looking back at our experiences in recent wars, I don't see much continuing nimblessness. Just a lot of "send in the grunts and let them get shot so we don't cause collateral damage"

Posted by: 18-1 at August 27, 2024 12:14 PM (oZhjI)

279 Many more of them are focused on the dual tasks of protecting their rice bowls and growing their empires rather than rapid innovation. Add to that the absolutely asinine bureaucratic process: from concept to fielded system will usually take at least a decade; one of the major limiting factors: the Program Objective Memorandum (POM) process, in which a program designated to receive funding will usually not see any of those funds until two years after approval.
Posted by: Bert G at August
You want another McNamara? Cause this is how you get another McNamara.

Posted by: Eromero at August 27, 2024 12:14 PM (LHPAg)

280 Speaking of officers and materials needed to fight World War II

If the US Army had not conducted the Carolina and Louisiana Maneuvers the US would have been in an even worse situation.

Plus the extending of the Draft only passed by one vote.

Posted by: Anna Puma at August 27, 2024 12:15 PM (vyHIp)

281 261 This beautiful girl on the beach is glad that she can express her opinion on news coverage regarding Ukraine and Russia (She wants peace) without having to display her breasts in order to do so:

https://tinyurl.com/mtuatmue
======
Point to Fenelon.

Posted by: exdem13 FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT at August 27, 2024 12:15 PM (W+kMI)

282 Look at the drone factor. Both the Russians and the Ukrainians are using drones as precision weapons – the web is full of videos of drones taking out tanks, fortifications, and individual soldiers.

----------------

At least the Secret Cervix is ahead of the "game" in this respect!

Oh, wait ...

Posted by: ShainS -- Kommie-la 2024: The Fundamental Transtarvation of America! at August 27, 2024 12:16 PM (4k/PG)

283 Including young, and some not so young, being dragged off the street to feed the grinder. We need to go back to the times when leaders led from the front.
Posted by: javems
========
Yes we do along with the Sec of Defense, etc. Imagine how Russia and Ukraine would be better off if Zelensky and Putin had to do a duel to settle issues instead of ruining their countries and throwing their own citizens into the meatgrinder that is war. This was a war of choices by leaders--not from necessity.

Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 12:16 PM (kW+z9)

284 244 Now? We don't even have the factories, much less the will.

but our pronouns are magnificent. assault pronouns, with the thing that goes up. totally immune to emp.

Posted by: anachronda at August 27, 2024 12:17 PM (oY6Yp)

285 233 his contented gal doesn't care for politics.
https://i.yt___.com/vi/fNjPZTwonEg/maxresdefault.jpg
Posted by: Commissar of Plenty and Lysenkoism

Doesn't work for me.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at August 27, 2024 12:01 PM (v6JzV)

chnage the long underline to
IMG
and be sure to capitalize the IMG

Posted by: m at August 27, 2024 12:18 PM (64Zez)

286 268 We can pray an Elon -type, perhaps Elon himself , is working on the ‘rods from God’ system.

---------------
You just don't know what's happening.

Palmer Lucky, the Occulus VR guy who was fired for supporting Trump from Meta, has started a sucessful rapid-turn around defense company that's using AI and drones and shipping to Israel and Ukraine. Primary DoD contractor. The there is Palantir, etc

https://tinyurl.com/3nduyear

Rods-from-God is dumb, out-dated technology. Stop that shit already.

Posted by: theinverseagonist at August 27, 2024 12:18 PM (FNHjZ)

287 Drones guidance can be easily jammed. Only autonomous drones which can only work (now) against fixed targets, can't be jammed. Such devices are actually low tech cruise missiles. The "drones" Iran is using against our installations are medium tech cruise missiles.

Posted by: An Observation sez China Joe not my president at August 27, 2024 12:19 PM (Da7Vv)

288 271
Posted by: 18-1 at August 27, 2024 12:12 PM (oZhjI)

I hear ya.

Posted by: m at August 27, 2024 12:19 PM (64Zez)

289 Thus, useless expenditures do not 'grow' the economy--they simply change how the money is spent and you cannot foresee what productive use of that money might have been to the benefit of all.
Posted by: whig at August 27, 2024 12:10 PM (kW+z9)

broken windows as a national economic policy is another form of centralized command economy, Bastiat explained it by likening it to the government forcing everyone to brick up their windows to boost the income of candlemakers. It doesn't command that candles be bought, but what other options were there?
Building weapons, for example, not only tie up funds, but they also suck up all the material like steel and rubber to build them, and they also take labor, managing and R&D types out of the labor pool, that otherwise would be making and creating things that people wanted.
It isn't just the funds (and the deficit spending driving inflations) it is everything being diverted. This happens in academia with government grants, by the way, and in building subsidized housing by grant, and pretty much every where else the government decides to "invest" by spending gobs of money.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 27, 2024 12:24 PM (D7oie)

290 You want another McNamara? Cause this is how you get another McNamara.

Posted by: Eromero at August 27, 2024 12:14 PM

Hell, that's how we got here.

Posted by: Bert G at August 27, 2024 12:25 PM (VARTN)

291 250 That was the strategy we used with tanks in WWII: the Sherman was inferior in many ways to the German tanks, but had the advantage of very superior numbers. That's probably the way to go, unless you happen to be in the Sherman, facing off with a Tiger.
Posted by: Archimedes

------

Don't hit me with them negative waves so early man...

Posted by: I M Simpleton at August 27, 2024 12:28 PM (cwq7b)

292 I agree totally with Schlichter. You can't do, "Arsenal of Democracy 2.0" without having the "arsenal" part in place first, and we long ago lost that extra production capability.

If America ever gets into a serious conflict with a peer-level competitor, then it's going to be a "Come-as-you-are" war. Lose a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, and it's not like we're going to be able to wait around for Newport News Shipbuilding to replace it in five years. The war will be over, for better or worse, long before then.

Franklin Roosevelt was wrong about a lot of things, but two things he got right were to recognize the threat that Nazi Germany and Japan posed and to gear up American industry in preparation for a war he knew was coming. And it made all the difference.

Consider: Of the 15 Essex-class aircraft carriers that saw action in World War II, 13 of them were ordered in 1940 and several were already under construction on December 7, 1941.

Of the battleships and cruisers that joined the fleet through the first half of 1943, all of them were already under construction on December 7, 1941.

You can't wait until you're attacked to start building up. But that's where we are today.

Posted by: Taylor Lake at August 27, 2024 12:38 PM (vo+XL)

293 I'm not sure Schlicter sees the contradiction here. Ukraine and Russia, two corrupt and relatively poor countries (compared to the US) are able to master drone and counter drone technology, but the US will be unable to? We can't recruit Amazon and Google and Meta to supplement our military, assuming we would need them to and they would oblige?

I get what he is saying, but pointing out how bold and innovative Ukraine seems to be, doesn't feel like a convincing argument.

Posted by: Lex at August 27, 2024 12:50 PM (fMN7A)

294 Excellent and short article with some scary facts, great graphs on the defense supply chains reliance on China:

You can't go to War with your Factory:
https://tinyurl.com/mr2rptky

Posted by: theinverseagonist at August 27, 2024 12:50 PM (FNHjZ)

295 "We cannot just spin up to rearm once the next war – which is coming – starts."

"I have never advocated war except as means of peace, so seek peace, but prepare for war. Because war... War never changes.

War is like winter and winter is coming."
- Ulysses S. Grant

Posted by: You're in hell, the world ended at August 27, 2024 12:56 PM (4TKRX)

296 Very poor analysis. What the author means is that any state that can adapt, not accept the convention wisdom will trounce the convention tactics and wisdom of the soon to be defeated. And history demonstrates this to always be true. Refuse to change, then be executed by the young, more aggressive, more agile foe. Doubt it, look at nature.

Posted by: Jane at August 27, 2024 03:32 PM (bXvrr)

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I have a project that I'm just now working on, and I have been on the look out for such
info. cursilloscolombia.org

Posted by: https://cursilloscolombia.org at September 05, 2024 01:53 PM (6H3aV)

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