Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Mike]

Yeah, I went from $3.69 to $4.19-$4.29

[iam416]

With gas prices temporarily rising, the stock market drifting toward bear territory and the "only technically a recission" going on, it seems like it's time for The Chairman to take another Screaming Eagle victory lap.

Shit is under control. Not only that, it's going swimmingly.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Inside Russia:The Kremlin is trying desperately to message its way out of the shitstorm created by Putin's "partial mobilization" directive. They are also blaming the mobilization of young men who, by law don't qualify for military service, on lazy local recruitment centers employees more concerned with filling quotas than following the rules. Unlike the narrative they've spun on operations in Ukraine, citizens in Russia have enough factual information they are seeing and experiencing themselves to reject the Kremlin's bull shit. Mass protests are ongoing and thousand of draft eligible men are fleeing across boarders where they can still do that. Putin will direct more repressive measures to stop both.

Is anything positive for people and nations opposing Putin's act going to come of this? The best thing I've heard with regard to this is that autocrats might want to think twice about arming citizens they are oppressing.

[THE_WIZARD_]

With gas prices temporarily rising, the stock market drifting toward bear territory and the "only technically a recission" going on, it seems like it's time for The Chairman to take another Screaming Eagle victory lap.

Shit is under control. Not only that, it's going swimmingly.

[Dr. Strangelove]

[THE_WIZARD_]

...

[Jeff Buchanan]

Inside Ukraine: Despite the picture of Russian mobilization efforts to reinforce their depleted army ranks and fend of Ukrainian advances, they are still happening incrementally. There are two important strategic cities that controlling them has become the focus of both sides: Bakmut in the E and Kherson in the S. Both sides claim they're winning battles for these cities. An actual win for one side would be catastrophic on multiple levels for either. They are key cities in the eastern and southern provinces both symbolically and militarily indicative of which side is controlling those provinces.

There's not enough information to conclude who's going to prevail. The constant refilling of Russian units with unwilling and untrained soldiers only serves to have more of them die. Ukrainian commanders in the field report, "they just keep coming and we kill them. But it gets hard to advance in these cfirmstances." Ukranian casualties are also high v. increasigly well dug in Russians. Casualties are from artillery exchanges, not from bullets being fired from rifiles. Doctors report the dead brought to them are in peices, not whole bodies and they all have shrapnel wounds, not bullet wounds. They cant save many.

It's hard to see either side achieving objectives with a military victory. Additionally, how Putin is pursuing objectives with his referendums in Ukrainian territory he has vowed to control have real world implications. Once the sham favorable results of votes to join Russia are announced and the Russian Duma votes to annex those parts of Ukraine, Putin will declare further operations to seize them be western supported Ukraine will threaten the existance of Russis.

The west faces an increasing likelihood that Putin will escalate with nukes in some way as his situation at home deteriorates and military victories in Ukraine are denied. US officials have revealed they've been very clear in telling Putin what will happen if he goes nuclear. My guess is that NATO will respond conventionally to start - something Putin does not want and his nuclear threats are intended to prevent - and all bets are off from there if NATO forces get involed. I would think that, as Clinton did in the Balkans, we'd see airpower used to target Russian high value targets inside Ukraine to force a withdrawal. None of this scenario, if it plays out, will be neat and tidy.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

[Da Geezer]

JB: I always like your Ukraine updates.

Have you heard anything lately about Putin's health? That seems to me to be the optimum way out for everyone, Putin dying I mean.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Some of this may be a university legal team going too far into CYA mode but shitty, hastily written laws will cause problems

University of Idaho warns staff not to offer reproductive health services following state’s near-total abortion ban | The Hill

University of Idaho releases memo warning employees that promoting abortion is against state law - Idaho Capital Sun

[Dr. Strangelove]

Crazy Ohio poll from a solid pollster. The sample voted for Trump over Biden by an 8 point margin. Would be nuts if voter split the tickets by this much

Mike Dewine (R) +23
Tim Ryan (D) +3

Methodology behind Spectrum News/Siena College Poll (spectrumnews1.com)

[THE_WIZARD_]

shaddup

[Dr. Strangelove]

That was fast. Maybe Trump doesn’t trust him cuz he worked for DeSantis

[Jeff Buchanan]

JB: I always like your Ukraine updates.

Have you heard anything lately about Putin's health? That seems to me to be the optimum way out for everyone, Putin dying I mean.

He's fine. Some intel sources assess he's delusional but that's not unusual for paranoid autocrats in pursuit of achieving objectives they've laid out and staying in power.

I don't think any intelligence agency that has followed Putin over his 20y presidency does not think he's highly intelligent and with a clear vision for Russia. The unknown question is how far will he go to realize his vision which poses a threat to western Europe and, along with the US, working to prevent Putin from actually realizing it.

When amateurs in the MSM speculate on how various presidents are advised by their state intel agencies wrt how adversaries will act in a crisis and what kind of response might be appropriate to a given action, they are frequently wildly inaccurate. The good news organizations say they don't know what advice is proffered or what actions are planned.

My own military experience informs me that kind of dialog is highly classified, sophisticated, complex and yeids multiple possible courses of action for a president to consider. Each one of these will be detailed with consequences and possible outcomes. For those who are rightfully skeptical about Biden's capacity to make good decisions, the good news is he's not prone to being a rogue, isolating himself from good advice or ignoring it completely.

[THE_WIZARD_]

DSL...do the world a favor and pull your lip over your head and swallow...