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His lead in the swing state polls has been dwindling too. Those usually trail behind the national ones. Something that seems different this year is that it seems like there's just less polling in general. The most recent one for a lot of the swing states on RCP is from the week of St. Patrick's Day
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Corrupt versus Prick
Welcome to 2024 America.Shut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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Corrupt prick vs BidenI feel like I am watching the destruction of our democracy while my neighbors and friends cheer it onComment
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Corrupt zombie vs. PrickShut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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War update:
Ukraine has told it's western supporters that it is going to be unable to force the Russian Army to culminate their current offensives (there are three of them in Eastern Ukraine ongoing now). Ukraine has, in the recent past, prevented substantial Russian Army tactical gains when they undertake offensive operations. The term is they "culminate" or run out of steam before winning anything. Not this time because Ukraine is unable to supply sufficient air defense systems, missiles and artillery shells. The blame, according to Ukrainian officials, is the failure of the US House to authorize Biden's aid package.
TBF, it's hard to assess that claim. The EU is stepping up to provide artillery shells and other kit so, is that helping? One of the major gains the Russians are getting is air non-inferiority. Ukraine has kept the Russian air force at bay relegating them to air inferiority due to the contribution of a robust and interoperable ground based air defense system. Being low on missiles, man-packs (stinger) and AAA shells has caused them to lose that advantage and Russian jets are now operating overhead and in support of ground operations. Huge advantage they did not have until recently.
In the ME, Iran launched 300 drones from Iranian territory into Israel and Jerusalem last night - the first attack on Israel from Iranian soil in the ongoing shadow war between the two countries. The drones appeared to be more sophisticated than what the Houthis have been using. Analysts say, none of the drones reached their intended targets, all of them, according to Israeli officials, were shot down by the Israelis' Iron Dome, by Jordan, or by US ships providing connected air defense with Israel from ships in the Red Sea.
Other analysts said that the attack was mostly performative. Michael Singh, a former senior director for Middle East affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, told the WSJ that it was a slow-moving, thoroughly telegraphed, and ultimately unsuccessful retaliation that sent a weak message but non-the-less a message. The big question is will Iran stop at just this performative operation? Intelligence sources sense that there seems to be an unwillingness to escalate and both sides may look to restraintMission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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Just thought I'd break in for a thought or two on the ME situation.
I am totally amazed at the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system, and how it performed against the totally inept 'attack' by Iran. And I'm pleasantly surprised that the Kingdom of Jordan assisted in Israel's defense by shooting down many of the drones that flew over their territory. There is some sanity in some Arab countries in the ME. Truth be known, countries like Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf states would likely (and privately) cheer Israel cleaning the clock of the rogue regime in Iran.
Iran better be careful, because if Israel attacks, they'll show everyone how its done. It won't be some weak drone attack. They'll hit their targets, and hit them hard.
Hezbollah is already feeling the wrath of being an Iranian proxy today. They just lost a weapons facility in southern Lebanon early today. They can likely expect more. And Iran did Gazans no favors with their weak attack. If anything, Israel will use this as justification to complete their mission against Hamas.
God bless the IDF.
Now back to your regular programming ..
*poof*"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, .. I'd worn them for weeks, and they needed the air"Comment
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A couple of good opinion pieces from yesterday wrt Israel/Iran conflict. Some background: these two have been waging a "shadow war" since the Shah was deposed and the Mullah's took over installing an Islamic government dependent on their interpretation of the Koran. The Iranian air attack launched from Iranian soil and directed at targets throughout Israel, including Jerusalem, is a first in the decades long "shadow war." It's a huge deal that is being misunderstood. The warnings that Washington provided publicly about an imminent attack coming from Iran, targeting Israel and what is likely classified information on timing and targets, not publicly released but shared with Israel, suggests deep penetration by western intelligence operatives into the highest levels of Iranian military planning and operations.
Analysts believe that several key government buildings in Jerusalem and the airbase that is home to Israel's F22 squadrons were the primary targets with an attempt to overwhelm Israel's air defenses with numbers while firing the most advanced cruise missiles at these targets. As of this morning, not a single drone or missile made it to it's intended target. The one seriously wounded casualty was a 7y old girl injured by falling debris.
Israel and it's many supporters who turned out in support of the defense of Israeli airspace are big winners here. Israel is being cautioned to not fuck up the win by responding with an attack on Iranian soil, though no one at this point doubts Israel could do it and do it well. That would ignite a wider conflict and produce ME instability that would rock economies world wide. Instead, western powers should double down on Isolating Iran further from the global economy. The current regime in Iran is facing the potential for massive protests denouncing it. The last time country wide protests happened was after a young woman, arrested for not covering her head, died while being held. Protesters were brutally put down and the protests died down. That does not mean that there is not a significant number of Iranians who hate the Islamic based rule carried out by the religious establishment. The more Iranians lack not only higher end consumer goods but also basic necessities of living: food, transportation, entertainment, etc., the more likely they are to revolt. The way to seed that revolt is to continue to play hardball with Iran and squeeze the civilian sector by denying them the western goods they crave, while isolating Iran's government from the global political scene.Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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More on Israel's win in the air v. Iran, and now we learn that all of Iran's major militias in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen were launching drones and missiles in coordination with Iran. In scale, it was a massive air attack, foreshadows how air wars are going to be run in the future, provided invaluable intelligence to the Israeli coalition forces and war time tested todays version of the IADs or Integrated Air Defense.
On active duty, I've worked in the command sections of NATO IADs that involve integrating different air defense systems and missiles into a cohesive network. Even in the 80s, unknown to the public, advanced air defense technologies were being built and used, under wraps, in Europe. A small portion or sector of it was tested in the Balkan Wars. The western coalition there had air superiority and part of that was gained with super secret capabilities that got some actual war-time testing and training and that was a long time ago. You can bet the west has the goods and I suspect some of that was on display two nights ago.
One of the most fascinating aspects of the air defense in this combat action was integrating shipborne capabilities into ground based capabilities and coordinating areas of action between 5 different countries that were involved. Potentially a C&C nightmare with misidentified friendlies getting shot down. None of that happened and the flawless performance of Israel's Iron Dome likely had something to do with that. Fighter jets had a turkey shoot v. drones and the Iron Dome took out missiles. This tells me that advanced radars, both air----born and on the ground, and Electronic Surveillance equipment were integrated into this combat operation. A drone provides almost zero radar cross section to radars that I was familiar with but I do know secret squirrels had some instant tricks up their sleeves to improve detection and targeting in the airborne and ground based radars of my day. Today, the F22 radars for example, and probably the most recent block of F16s are reportedly capable of detecting drones and engaging them with their radar.
Bottom line is that there are huge lessons to be learned for future and current conflicts gained from this 2-3h air defense "exercise." You'd like to think Ukraine could have a version of the Iron Dome operational in a matter of days or weeks. Not going to happen although Israel sells this thing and I think I heard that some country not Israel will obtain them and gift them to Ukraine. Caveat, Israel has been working on it's air defense to include the Iron Dome for decades. Effective air defense in Ukraine v. Russian aggression isn't going to pop up over night. But this war with Russia is a long term project. It's possible that the Ukrainians will hold out long enough for them to incrementally improve air defenses to protect and rebuild were necessary critical infrastructure, power generation and manufacturing capability - currently hi-value targets of the Russian Airforce in the hopes of preventing Ukraine from replacing combat losses from assets and production inside Ukraine.Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.Comment
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This white House house just doesn't get it
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Ya think?Shut the fuck up Donny!Comment
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Plenty of worse things to spend it on.Comment
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Massie says he's with MTG on a motion to vacate Johnson so It really could be up to a few Dems to save him as Speaker if there's just one or two more morons out there.Comment
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How many people would it take to oust him? I stopped keeping track of Speaker Roulette.Comment
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