Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yeah, people wanted Feinstein gone in 2019-2020. Her gushing over Lindsey Graham and the ACB hearings was the last straw.

She's been MIA for 10 weeks now I believe. Durbin claims he's spoken to her recently but I wouldn't count on that being true. It's partly his fault she's still on the Judiciary Committee.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Bigtime Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip tonight

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-05-09/ty-article/.premium/israel-attacking-islamic-jihad-targ/00000187-fdae-d78f-a5d7-fdeffb7a0000

[Mike]

GET SOME!!!

[lineygoblue]

Kick ass, take names.

You go, IDF.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ukraine: As has been the case for the last two months, maybe longer, background information as opposed to reports of military activity (military reports from Bakhmut have continued), has predominated in sources I'm following. There is a lot of reporting on Ukrainian deaths from Russian shelling, missile and drone attacks - which have escalated in the last two weeks. Ukrainian military officials report that their air forces shoot most of them down before they reach their targets. This claim is mostly believable and is so because western countries are providing good intel, modern air defense systems and ammunition with the Russians deploying what remains of dwindling stocks of Soviet era cruise missile systems. The Israelis are allegedly supplying Ukraine with information on Iranian drones that allow the use of electronic warfare to disable them in flight.

Of the scant military ground force reporting, Bakhmut has not yet been fully occupied by Russian or Wagner PMC forces and has made zero advances elsewhere. What Russia continues to do is to indiscriminately bombard civilian infrastructure. Ukraine continues to prevent Bakhmut - nothing but a smoldering pile of ruins - from being seized and preventing Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian population centers doing much damage to infrastructure and being as effective in achieving what the Kremlin would like - demoralizing the populace.

Last Friday, PMC boss Prigohzon threatened to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut if he didn't receive more ammunition. On Sunday he reported the Russian MoD promised he'd get everything he needed. He said he'd continue to battle in Bakhmut. Today, he released a statement saying that he had been deceived and was only going to receive 10% of what he asked for. He added that regular Russian army forces had abandoned positions on his flank. That second claim is probably accurate in that the Russian armed forces have been regrouping and repositioning for defensive operations in anticipation of a Ukrainian counter offensive operation.

What's important about what's going on with Wagner PMC and the Russian MoD is that it illuminates Command and Control and chain of command issues within the Russian military. ISW speculates that this is going to degrade Putin's ability to conduct coordinated defensive operations to protect what he's already occupied in Ukraine and certainly will nearly prohibit further Russian offensive operations along multiple axis of attack should he try to further his land grab.

Russia had its May 9th Victory over Nazi Germany Day in a greatly scaled down version today There was one tank in the parade and few soldiers marching arm to arm in goose step fashion. He made no reference to his faltering operation in Ukraine. Instead, he cast his special military operation there as the start of a war defending mother Russia from the imperialist and colonists of the west - in particular the US and their NATO subordinates - wanting to tear apart the Russian Federation. This is nothing new but his propagandizing got news coverage and will resonate with older Russian citizens (not the younger ones). Putin is being very careful to not mobilize additional fighters from within the Russian Federation for fear of sowing protests. Instead he is targeting minority regions inside Russia and conducting forced mobilization of citizens in occupied Ukraine.

[THE_WIZARD_]

JB/AI/ChatGPT at work again...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Heh, I saw the one tank in the Moscow parade. It was from the 40's.

[Hannibal]

Hanni, do you think Ron should come out swinging against Trump in his announcement or focus more on his own accomplishments?

I figure take the fight to Trump because it’s an inevitability. Use the moment to highlight all the losing Trump and his candidates have done since 2016. IMO, that’s the winning argument against Trump. Trump’s personal issues are baked into the cake and highlighting them won’t move the needle for or against him. But making an argument about winning elections and keeping the progs out of power should resonate with primary voters.

IMHO he should open by acknowledging and thanking Turmp for creating and continuing to energize an ongoing political movement. He should acknowledge that Trump's rise is a direct result of the failure of our political establishment to put forth a viable opposition party to stop the cultural and economic decay of the country. It would be both disingenuous and counterproductive to completely ignore the appeal of a guy who got 74 million votes. Trump also obviously mobilized a lot of opposition too, but there's no need to mention that, because everyone knows it. He should positiion himself as the natural successor to Trump, whose only real accomplishment was getting elected. Make the appeal that Trump was the disruptor, but Ron represents the evolution of the movement into mainstream politics. This is what we want after all. Serious political movements exist to gain political power and wield it, not to just have rallies and chant stuff.

And then, yes. Attack him hard -- from the Right. If I were Governor Ron, I would make my official announcement somewhere at our Southern border, with Donald's nonexistent wall as the backdrop. And I would say "you promised us a wall, Donald. Where is it?" Then go into:

• Donald sending his supporters to the Capitol on Jan 6 and then heading back to the hotel to get on Twitter. Ron should pledge to pardon all non-violent Jan 6 offenders -- basically anyone who wasn't guilty of assault, battery, etc.
• Donald going into hibernation in the spring of 2020, ceding the floor to the Left for about three critical months, and those months are when the election was effectively decided.
• The revolving door clown show cabinet. "You promised us the best people, Donald!"
• The bump stock ban
• There's probably a lot of other stuff that I can't think of now.

Ron can win if he highlights all of his successes where Trump failed. It helps that he's going to have a shit ton of money to make that case with ads too.

[iam416]

AA will appreciate this -- The Chairman, while complaining about airline delays, fees and high prices, said the DOT will propose a rule requiring Airlines to compensate travelers for canceled flights for room, meals, transportation and other costs. This will, apparently, lower cancellations whilst simulatenously exerting no upward pressure on price.

The Chairman does it again!

[Dr. Strangelove]

The Chairman needs to get after people who try to bring half their closet in carry-on bags. Those cheap sickos are why de-boarding is a grueling process.

[iam416]

Secondarily, if you are waiting in line at the rental counter and do not have your ID out ready to go but, instead, wait until you get to the counter to dig through your luggage to find it, then you should horsewhipped on the spot. No questions asked.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I think they should mandate a five course meal on every flight with some bubbly....and of course charge the people with better credit scores for it...

[THE_WIZARD_]

Hell...why stop at the airline industry for monitoring...let's force restaurants to give free meals when the service takes longer...or hotels if the check-in process takes too long...I mean...let the government just run the businesses so we peasants can be treated fairly finally...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Secondarily, if you are waiting in line at the rental counter and do not have your ID out ready to go but, instead, wait until you get to the counter to dig through your luggage to find it, then you should horsewhipped on the spot. No questions asked.

On my trip last month, at a very busy airport, the lady in front of me waiting at Enterprise was asking detailed questions about their rewards program. I was fuming.

[iam416]

I wish I could find that inconsiderate woman and by her dinner. God bless her efforts.