Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Flailing UK government to announce the new Chancellor's being canned after just 6 weeks on the job. Truss expectedly to completely reverse course and cancel her economic package that sent UK markets into a tailspin weeks ago. I've seen opinion polls showing her approval below 20%

UK’s Liz Truss to make a statement amid reports she’s preparing to sack her chancellor – POLITICO

[Jeff Buchanan]

Like the Washington Commanders and the Chicago Bears slug-fest last night, the Ukrainians and the Russians continue to slug it out. The Ukrainians have a flashy spread offense and the Russians play manball. The Ukrainians appear to hold a slight middle of the second quarter advantage but it's a war of wearing down the Ukrainians and the depth on the Russian bench is good......

Talking about that Russian bench. It looks good on paper but there are signs that the bench is mostly inexperienced or banged up. They can sub-in but they suck. They seem to be making goal line stands against a Ukrainian offense that has the tools and expertise on offense. I see 5 OTs to decide the winner.

The analogy fits. This remains a back and forth war with the Russians mostly on the defensive. Their latest tactic to be employed is to simply bombard the shit out of multiple Ukrainian cities. The targets being destroyed aren't likely to contribute to the achievement of Putin's objectives. Like the bombing of London in WWII by the Nazis, the indiscriminate bombing of Ukraine is only strengthening the resolve of the Ukrainian government and it's citizens to persevere.

Some analysts think the Iranians have provided upwards of 1000 attack drones. These are being deployed extensively from Crimea in the south and Belarus in the east some of them flying for 1000km before they loiter over a target then drop vertically to attack it. Noteworthy, because the Russians lack air superiority over the battle space, no precision bombs from tactical aircraft are a part of the bombardment. It's being done exclusively with stand-off drones and air/sea launched cruise missiles already seen to have questionable accuracy and precision.

The drone warheads are small compared to cruise missiles being fired from Russian ships in the Black Sea or launched in Russian airspace by Russian bombers. But to unhardened buildings - the typical target - they do a lot of damage. They are also hard to shoot down although the Ukrainians are having some success doing it. Arguing they need more air defense weapons to cut down on said damage to civilian infrastructure and housing, several countries are providing some pretty modern stuff that might help. I don't see an endgame here for Putin waging a stand-off air war v. Ukraine. It is not going to change anything on the ground where the Russians continue to look weak but are apparently holding on having gained a foothold very early and despite loosing previously occupied territory to the Ukrainian armed forces. .

What this air campaign of cruise missiles and drones is probably designed to accomplish is to assuage the home front, particularly the right wing nationalists. It also diverts attention from the faltering ground war, Putin's chaotic mobilization plan and the continuing logistics screw-ups by the Russian MOD. My take is we're entering a period of sustained conflict that is going to be very frustrating watching the destruction of Ukraine, death of it's soldiers and civilians and, yes, the death of young, ill-prepared, ill-equipped, and poorly led Russian soldiers thrown callously into the cauldron of battle for Putin's unattainable goals.

I don't see an end in sight and the conflict's horror are fading into the background because of the news cycle. I still think the world is going to continue to condemn Putin's war and attempt to isolate him but what that will bring is not likely going to be a definitive end to war in this region of the world. Based on the historical behavior of the west in the last 70 years to tire of conflict without resolution, juxtaposed with the east's patience, I worry about the eventual collapse of western support for Ukraine and what that means for the current world order and democracy.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Starting to see posts like this on Ukrainian linked accounts I follow. Russian men are being drafted, given virtually no training, handed shoddy or ancient equipment, told they need to buy the rest (like blankets or boots), and being sent straight to the hottest points on the front line just days later.

Even the loudest propagandists on Russian tv have begun openly attacking the Generals in charge of supplies and logistics.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Jeff- The entire Russian position on the west bank of the Dnieper in Kherson oblast could collapse in the near future. Seen scuttlebutt about how things are increasingly dire for Russians on that side of the river. The pseudo Governor that was just with Putin in Moscow for the big annexation announcement went on tv and urged all civilians to leave Kherson city ASAP

[lineygoblue]

Like the Washington Commanders and the Chicago Bears slug-fest last night, the Ukrainians and the Russians continue to slug it out.

Even the Detroit Lions were laughing at those two teams last night. When the Lions think you're bad, .. you're bad.

Sorry for the sports comment in the politics zone, but it had to be said.

Both teams should be suspended for the remainder of the season for a lack of playing football.

[Dr. Strangelove]

If you aren't following British politics I wouldn't be surprised if Boris Johnson is the PM again by the end of the year, lol. Things are going THAT badly for Liz Truss. Can look at some of the comments in the thread below from fellow Tories.

Truss confirms new tax U-turn and insists she will stay as PM - BBC News

[lineygoblue]

So Liz = Britain's Kamala?

[DaGeezer]

It's time for single payer healthcare.

However that is accomplished I'll leave that to the professionals, not a bunch of amatuer" it'll never woooooork" Eyores, as well as a couple of "those people don't deserve it "jackasses on a message board

You supported Obamacare, the system you now say is too expensive. Republican congressmen predicted it would vastly increase costs and ALL voted against it. Now you have what you sought, and you want to change it again. What could possibly go wrong?

The Dems passed Obamacare on a straight-party vote. They claimed it would be mostly funded by taking over the profitable student-loan industry that was making about $ 60 Billion net profit at the time of passage. Under government management, the student loan portfolio is mostly in default, to the tune of $ 1.5 trillion, and contributes very little toward funding Obamacare.

Health insurance costs have also exploded under Obamacare, as the Republicans predicted. The Rs have never proposed what they would do, either. Personally, I'd like to go back to the way we handled it prior to Obamacare. Most Americans had health insurance through their job or they purchased it for themselves. Everyone understood that there were persons who were going to emergency rooms or hospitals who did not have the means to pay. . Those "bad debts" flowed through to the hospitals' balance sheets and were factored into what the hospital charged (insured) patients. Insurance raised premiums to compensate.

What that system did was cut out the added layer of bureaucracy that Obamacare created. It also atomized the health insurance industry, and the drug industry. Now, there is very little competition among insurers and even less in the drug industry. Basically, three drugmakers were picked by the CDC to make the covid vaccine. Any mention of alternative sources of vaccines or therapeutics was suppressed. Purchase of the vaccine was mandated. Anyone questioning the efficacy of the vaccine was harshly censored by Big Media. And everyone got a share as Yossarian might say.

I fully understand how much big business would save if we had a single-payer system. No wonder big business and big government work in lockstep. And think of the control that government would have over the citizens. (Government might require vaccination as a condition of employment). We have just lived a little of "single-payer" and while the jury may still be out on the efficacy of the covid vaccines, there is no doubt that individual freedom and the freedom of speech were absolutely butchered by Big Government's response to covid.

[WingsFan]

I watched the catfight last night, I thought Dixon handled herself well (between the non-stop insults), but that's how you win right - the other side is rotten and change has to be made no matter what? I don't care much for the phony lying Whitmer... but I do side with her policies more than Dixon. Politics is so childlike, maybe Dixon's looks will get her more votes?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Alaska cancels snow crab season for the first time in state history. One billion crabs have simply vanished

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fishing-alaska-snow-crab-season-canceled-investigation-climate-change/

[THE_WIZARD_]

fuckin' climate change

[Mike]

We have just lived a little of "single-payer" and while the jury may still be out on the efficacy of the covid vaccines, there is no doubt that individual freedom and the freedom of speech were absolutely butchered by Big Government's response to covid.

There really is no need for further argument against giving the government more power. 2020 laid bare the progressives' intentions. When they say they'll do whack-ado shit if elected, believe them. They no longer try to hide it.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Jeff- Saw a post from about an hour ago that the Kremlin is starting to crack down on its far right, pro-war critics who've been posting criticism online on Telegram and other places. Sure you've run across some of those guys. Igor Strelkov (a war criminal himself) is one of the big ones. Supposedly he and a bunch of others have been put under criminal investigation for "discrediting the armed forces". Could be part of the growing rift between the current military leadership and the Prigozhin/Kadyrov faction.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Jeff- The entire Russian position on the west bank of the Dnieper in Kherson oblast could collapse in the near future. Seen scuttlebutt about how things are increasingly dire for Russians on that side of the river. The pseudo Governor that was just with Putin in Moscow for the big annexation announcement went on tv and urged all civilians to leave Kherson city ASAP

ISW has written in their most recent two reports that they are unwilling to endorse the claims of the Ukrainians or the Russians regarding the status of ground forces and their locations in the Kherson Oblast. I think that's fair because both sides propagandize their narratives for the target audience that consume it.

What ISW is willing to do, and they do it well, is piece together Russian milblogger posts with video that is provided by ordinary inhabitants of this region - both Russians and Ukrainians that heretofore considered themselves brothers living peacefully side by side. In one case, they did piece together video footage of Russian soldiers surrendering to Ukrainian forces at least in platoon size groups at an unspecified area that can be identified as somewhere north of Kherson city - this would likely involve dug in Russian forces assigned to defend against UKrainian advances into the city proper of Kherson.

Interestingly, about a week ago, it was reported that high level Russian installed civilian administrators, their families and army officers were leaving Kherson for Crimea. This comports with Ukrainian claims that new recruits sent immediately to the front lines have no interest in dying in Ukraine for Putin's war and surrender as soon as they have a chance. Since Russian army officers have left their commands abandoning troops for safer ground is pretty demoralizing shit and there's no one in a leadership role to "encourage" them to hold their positions. Keep in mind that the Russian army does not have equivalent Staff NCO ranks to the US Army and USMC - considered the back bone of both forces leadership.

These calls for an evacuation coming from Kherson regional authorities come in two flavors: (1), Save yourselves and flee to Russia or (2) we're encouraging residents to leave for a vacation involving travel and education to Russia - the latter version coming in quick succession from the former that sounds like a panicked plea. Both versions are consistent with this "filtration" process set up by the Russian occupiers to "encourage" Ukrainians to leave Ukraine as a means of cultural cleansing - part of Putin's objectives to erase the Ukrainian cultural identity.

The filtration process includes hundreds (by some estimates 1500 of them) of children forcefully removed from their parents (with promises they will be reunited in Russia). It's some sick shit but totally consistent with what autocrats the ilk of Putin do. Refresh in your mnds what went on in the Balkan wars between Serbs, Croats and muslims living in both countries along with the dissolution of the Yugoslavian state. Whole settlements of "undesirables" according to the Serbian definition of them wiped out and buried in mass graves. We're seeing a repeat of that kind of war crime in this conflict being perpetrated by the Russian higher-ups inside the Kremlin and close to Putin.

[Dr. Strangelove]