Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

Ds all over the country are accusing the Rs of "fear-mongering" about crime and THAT's why voters are so concerned about it. Setting aside the fact that it's difficult to make people care about shit they aren't experiencing, I find that "fear-mongering" line just fucking astounding coming from a party that insists that "democracy is, literally, at stake" in this election (after having insisted that Georgia's relaxed elections laws are Jim Crow only much worse).

[Hannibal]

I'm not entirely sure. I want to believe DeSantis or, well, anyone....has a chance. But, I'm not sure that his relentlessly loyal plurality cares if his interests align with the party interests.

I'm not sure either, but I do think that we'll find out.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ukraine: The battle on the ground has become mostly irrelevant unless one side or the other makes a giant breakthrough. That does not look like it is going to happen. The Russians have dug in around two key areas - the Svatove to Kreminna linein the east (a key Russian GLOC and the gateway to the Donetsk Oblast) and in and around Kherson to include both banks of the Dnipro and Kherson CIty in the Kherson Oblast. It would be hard to oust them from their defensive positions and very costly in terms of lives lost if Ukraine decided to try.

The war has become a high tech battle of strategic bombardment of the entire country of Ukraine and counter strategies to stop said bombardment by the Zelenski government. Ukraine reports it's lost 40% of it's ability to generate power and deliver it to customers as a result of the massive drone and cruise missile attacks Russia has launched over the last 2-3w. There are regional losses of water, waste treatment and public services. From a prosperous civil society before February 28th, Ukraine has become a ghost of it's former self in many economically important and previously thriving parts of the country.

The west is providing an array of modern air defense systems but these are few in number with no potential to increase numbers as existing stocks are drawn down and production of these advanced systems takes months. Meanwhile the Ukrainian Air defense forces are fighting with technologically inferior weapon systems, mostly Soviet 70s era equipment, that isn't interoperable like newer NATO air defense systems are in a way to create interlocking air defense areas- a dome or shield as the Israelis have created over their smaller country with the Patriot missile system. The old equipment simply operates independently which is inefficient. Munitions for the current inventory of air defense weapons is rapidly dwindling and it is not certain how much more the west can provide to Ukraine for the new stuff they're getting.

Ukraine claims it is intercepting 80% of the Iranian drones provided to Russia, S300 SAMs redirected for ground attack and Russian cruise missiles. Maybe. Who knows, the significant damage to Ukraines infrastructure is making a normal civilian existence nearly impossible and military operations difficult. Mass evacuations from major Ukrainian cities is a distinct possibility if power, heat and water becomes unavailable. There is already public and private discussions urging the west to get Zelenski to negotiate - I made a post about this last week and more or less supported the initiatives if well formulated objectives could be laid out for Ukraine and it appeared Putin might be willing to talk about them in a serious way - Neither Putin or Zelenski seem to be predisposed to talking. None of this is easy.

Short of more direct engagement by NATO, at this point, without some major changes in the battel space happening that unquestionably favors one side or the other and tends to leverage either side to negotiate, I see a long drawn out and tragic conflict going forward. No one wants WWIII conventional or otherwise. It would seem that this is a hybrid conflict being fought on multiple economic, traditional conventional means and with Russia's strategic bombardment as an extension of political means intended to force an outcome on Ukraine favorable to Putin. I don't think outcomes favorable to western objectives in this conflict are achievable using historically relevant military means used to force a diplomatic settlement. Contemporary strategies of forcing an aggressor nation to stand down either haven't reached full impact or have not yet been identified. It's an uncomfortable time with too much uncertainty for someone like me that likes identifiable goals and outcomes. Those just aren't apparent at present and the human suffering on both sides is staggeringly high. Clearly Putin doesn't care.

[iam416]

Your knowledge of Russia-Ukraine may come in handy, Buchanan, as the United States is, apparently, less than 24 hours away from stamping out democracy and moving into some sort of fascist autocracy. Someone so familiar with Putin and his ways may be useful.

In other words, your posts may finally have some value.

[Cody_Russell]

Voted this morning. Fairly busy, but a smooth operation.

…

Some interesting changes by FiveThirtyEight late last night. Nevada moved more in favor of Ds despite favorable poll numbers for Laxalt. Georgia and Pennsylvania moved more in favor of Rs. Not that Georgia matters this week because of the obvious incoming runoff.

Final forecast:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com...tion-forecast/

[lineygoblue]

Lebron says Georgians should vote for 'rev' Warnock.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/midterm-elections-lebron-james-makes-endorsement-georgia-senate-race

Lebron also supported moving MLB's All Star game out of Atlanta because of "Jim Crow on Steroids". All that did was cost local minority business owners tens of millions of dollars.

Attaboy Labron.

[THE_WIZARD_]

The fact that Jim Crow is still alive and well in this country is appalling. And how LeLoser has made billions of dollars in this clearly racist, neo-nazi country is also amazing. I tip my hat to you Mr. James for succeeding as a down trodden individual caused by such systemic racism is truly an accomplishment.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Weather appears to only be a story in Nevada where Reno, Carson City, and the Lake Tahoe area are going to get a significant amount of snow today and Las Vegas is getting rare thunderstorms all afternoon.

[Dr. Strangelove]

[THE_WIZARD_]

Weather appears to only be a story in Nevada where Reno, Carson City, and the Lake Tahoe area are going to get a significant amount of snow today and Las Vegas is getting rare thunderstorms all afternoon.

Obviously Mother Nature is down with voter suppression!

[Dr. Strangelove]

That bitch!

[THE_WIZARD_]

Mother Nature is Jim Crow on steroids!!!

[Jeff Buchanan]

Here in FL, TS Nicole is about 500 miles east of landfall expected Wednesday pm north of palm beach (about 60m N of me) fcst wind max in S FL around 35-40. Lower around Miami. Max NE side of land fall, low 70s but only off shore, coastal and inland 35-45. Flood surge is an issue from Orlando N into SC.

This isn't going to affect voting today except the few that are panicking which local news reports tend to create. Gas lines, no water in grocery stores already occurring. Reporting tends to be upper end. No one wants to be wrong on the low side. Makes sense. It takes digging to get a somewhat accurate forecast in an environment of murkiness.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Republicans sued Philadelphia to force them to adopt a procedure that will slow down vote counting tonight. It's the only county in the entire state that the R's demanded do this.

Absolutely a 100% chance that immediately after the polls close Republicans will launch into tirades that vote-counting in Philadelphia is far too slow and is extremely suspicious and anything counted after 9 PM should be regarded as an illegal vote.

Philly vote count for 2022 midterm elections will be slower for poll book reconciliation (inquirer.com)

“I want to be very clear that when there are conversations that occur later this evening about whether or not Philadelphia has counted all of their ballots that the reason that some ballots would not be counted is that Republicans targeted Philadelphia — and only Philadelphia — to force us to conduct a procedure that no other county does,” Seth Bluestein, the sole Republican commissioner, said before voting for reconciliation.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU