dan/california

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shield-of-the-republic/id1589548143?i=1000644650726 Excellent podcast, former NATO commander on the state of play. Edit: General Breedlove is THE MAN!

Sufficient unto the day, tomorrow they have to wake up and push the next step. I didn't think Schumer and McConnell could get this vote done, but now that they have I think the odds of getting out of the Senate are pretty good. The House....not sure they could name a post office at the moment, but it would literally only take three Republicans growing a spine to get this done. He explains further in a video.

Well that is the best news in weeks, McConnell had one push left in him apparently. To give Biden and Schumer credit where credit is due, hoping to get this done is why they have not already tried to go to completely irregular channels for getting stuff to Ukraine. Because once they start there is no going back, probably.

I have wondered for some time about the price setting in particular. I really think Biden could start selling Ukraine 155 shells for a dollar a piece if was willing to live with the Republicans in Congress losing their minds. It is about time to consider such measures.

There was a video months ago of a U.S. volunteer in Ukrainian service who was making up satchel charges. I distinctly remembered him saying that so far more was better, and he made them bigger every time he made more.

I have suffered permanent mental harm from this image.

Total honesty, I didn't realize it was that old. And it ties into the current mess in the U.S..

From Financial Times

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/battleground/id1617276298?i=1000644425258 This hour plus view of the Italian campaign is so good I am going to have to fire up the Italian game.

YES!

This is also his audition to be Trump's Vice President...

Other than that Mr Speaker, how was the play.

Sadly that rabbit hole is currently the most important front in the Ukraine War. That is both wrong and tragic.

This must have been actively coordinated with Trump's efforts to sink the Ukraine aid bill.

The risk calculation is very different when your other choice is bleeding to death in a muddy trench.

They are in fact VERY stupid. This war has lasted 23 months longer than they thought it would. Unfortunately Putin's grip on power is still so tight is doesn't matter, and somewhere between 500 and 1500 mobiks feed themselves to the meat grinder every day. Unfortunately the Ukrainians are bleeding too, we a have to keep getting them enough help for as long as it takes to run out of something the Russian army can't stay in the field without.

Some intern at at least counts and categorizes them. Supposedly the pay quite a bit of attention to number of letters they get on a topic. If you are motivated enough to write them, you are motivated enough to vote. Billindc might have a better answer.

If your in the U.S. this is the moment to write your Senators and Congressperson AGAIN!

Apologies if this was already posted, I missed it if it was.

Given the cost, the Pentagon would be the perfect customer. Apple might want to quietly create a defense subsidiary.

This is the only must pass bill this year, aside from the actual budget. I would even forgive the Dems for protecting Johnson until November if it got this thru. It isn't like anything else more significant than naming a post office is going to pass regardless.

They literally only need ~3 Republicans to go all in on supporting this, and threaten to vacate the chair and vote in Jeffries. Not saying that will happen but if any Republicans do it I hereby promise to donate to their campaigns, and buy their books.

It turns out wiper fluid is a very important item in a war zone if you are lucky enough to still have a windshield. And drones are just better at moving targets, they are probably even better that really expensive gun launched PGMs most of the time, and cost only a tiny fraction. I grant that ability to simply suppress a whole tree line isn't nothing, but with the ever rising counter battery threat that is a lot of rounds to stand and fire. The_Capt also mentioned that FPV drones were better because they could be aimed at the most vulnerable spots. Given the number of FPV drones that seem to to do the last hundred yards/meters on prayer I am less than sure about this factor. And a slightly better autonomous drone that just fired an explosively formed projectile straight down at the center of mass as viewed from the top would seem to cover most of the bases. RPG warheads aren't used because they are perfect, merely because they are around.

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-february-3-2024 Perhaps there are things stirring below the frozen surface of Russian politics.

Carrying a message from Trump perhaps?