danfrodo

I am hopeful because I can't see the Gaza need for 155mm continuing indefinitely.

If you could read me the slides, word for word, that would great. And have each bullet point slow-reveal. And also spend weeks wordsmithing it because that is actual work. (I had manager 2 levels up that would spend day upon day wordsmithing slides instead of just putting the basics & supporting data there and then simply telling the dang story

actually LOL'd at this, well done

Yeah, that really adds insult to injury when you're taking expensive losses and can't locate the perpetrator. good luck!

some war stuff about the RU losses around Andiivka. A summary of things we already know but some nice charts & such. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/3/2209226/-Ukraine-Update-Why-a-lack-of-armored-vehicles-is-stalling-Russia-s-infantry-assault?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_8&pm_medium=web

Dang, that is a big hole in the side. T34/85? IS2?

Great pics as usual. The Great King Tiger2 emerging from the smoke. I still love these beasts. I remember when I was young & foolish and thought these things were nearly invincible. Then I played CM. Oh, turns out 60 tons of steel is a lot more fragile than one would think. Also at some point read how mechanically unreliable they were. Kinda wish I could go back to my starry-eyed ignorance and idolize these things like I used to.

This is what I find so mind boggling, that a dictator can be so incredibly emotionally driven. To become dictator they make ruthless, clever, calculated, rational decisions. Then they become dictator and suddenly they lose their minds. In RU, how was a country of 144 million w nukes and a huge supply of easily made money (fossil fuels) not enough? But it seems once they hit what should've been the pinnacle of power they suddenly need to grasp for more. I was one of the knuckleheads who thought "attacking UKR is insane, it won't happen". Learned my lesson. Sanity is no guide for what dictators will do.

Ukraine has suffered and continues to suffer terrible losses, but it survives and will continue to survive this war that was intended as Ukrainian extermination.

Yeah, the 'RU is winning' stuff is so shallow it's hard to put words to it, like this is some kind of sporting event w a scoreboard. Since day 4 of this epic debacle, Putin has done nothing but desperately try to salvage something, anything. from an utter disaster and the cost is absolutely astronomical relative to the gain. Maybe does hold the current gains, but the costs continue to accrue meaning he aint done paying yet, so every day it becomes more of an absurdly ruinous affair. It's like he bought a house where the costs of keeping the house go up more & more every month.

Various war stuff, some already seen here, some not. And lots about animals in the war at the bottom. Incredible mouse infestation in one position, awful. The misery and murder goes on. Speeding RU Lt hits a group of RU soldiers crossing the road. As a fellow human, I would normally feel sorry for them, but it's some guys that won't be killing UKR folks going forward at least. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/2/2209189/-More-Russian-stuff-blowing-up-Resistance-fighters-take-a-toll-on-Russians?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

This should be in forum post hall of fame. Great one.

You do know that Trump is under multiple FEDERAL indictments? Along with civil suits and has already been found guilty of fraud in NYState (by summary judgement). And yes, he is facing state indictments. And no, the supreme court is NEVER just doing what he text of the constitution says. If that were true we wouldn't need a supreme court because we'd instead just read the constitution. They must interpret the constitution, because it doesn't perfectly cover everything that happens in the world, especially 200+ years later. And let's not get started on 'strict interpretation' of founding fathers intent. The founding fathers intent is that Justice Thomas is a slave and Justice Comey-Barret is chattel. So if they want to play the intent game, they are saying they want to be enslaved and rightless.

and why do I need a kamikaze drone to land???? In case no target found?

Goodness, what a rambunctious bunch of folks y'all have been last 24 hours. Then Steve comes in to save the day w some really good content, thanks much Steve. I will go back to my hopium of "if UKR can just kill a few more russians and their fancy gear then ....."

Good lord that is really funny. I vaguely remember that one.

Interesting article on why F16s matter. I suspect many here knew all this but I didn't. Says that F16s w proper radar could put an end to RU using gliding bombs w/o risk. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/26/2207737/-Ukraine-Update-Russian-glide-bombs-are-a-major-problem-F-16s-are-the-solution?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_7&pm_medium=web

A blizzard in UKR today, as foretold by prophesy yesterday in LLF post. Gives some real Nov 1941 vibes, no? I don't see how it benefits either side much, though I suppose UKR army has better gear and conditions in general. Maybe helps side w more/better thermal sights? Maybe the ground will freeze long enough to allow vehicles.

We all know & Putin also knows, I suppose, that NATO is not an offensive threat, which this validates. Good to know that RU is having to take such measures due to losses. Meanwhile, Haiduk, and LLF providing some very good content on the war today, thanks much. We see the RU losses at Andiivka and elsewhere and I continue to wonder whether this will ever make a significant difference. RU burns out huge amounts of men & material but if UKR can't capitalize on it I suppose it makes some sort of twisted sense for Putin to keep doing it.

The above is a good example of how there's a lot of misleading headlines about UKR aid being cut off. There's some battles in some important aid provider govts, but aid is still flowing. Is it enough? It's never been as much as some of us would like, but it's still coming. We've seen over last couple weeks very large commitments from various EU countries and the US even lined up more stuff.

Haiduk reports that Putin launched major attack w shaheds and UKR shot down 74 of 75. If true, this is an incredible achievement, and I really hope it's true. If the AD is that strong around expected targets then I suppose Putin will look for other, less protected targets -- probably civilians in cities & towns not protected.

I think I did get better treatment from him once a couple years ago when I bit his head off (which I now regret), come to think of it. And so back to the war. Here's today's mix of sadness, disappointment, hopium, copium, and confirmation bias. Most of these videos seen here already, but a couple I think not. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/24/2207794/-Ukraine-Update-Russia-continues-meat-grinding-around-Avdiivka?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_5&pm_medium=web

I said in the post I DON'T advocate suppressing what liars want to lie about. 'Right thinker'? I am nice to you and then you have to call me that? Jeebus, LLF. There is an often something called an evidence based reality, which is different than legislating falsehoods & prejudices.

anti-vax 'communication'. You mean baseless lies and misinformation? And what suppression? At least in the US the lies were huge and everywhere and now there's big uptake in people not getting vaccinated for everything, not just covid. We've already seen, in the US, outbreaks in children of whooping cough in anti-vax clusters. And even a little polio. UKR is at war for survival and is completely within it's rights to censor things. In societies not under this kind of threat, I don't want censorship. I think it's best to counter lies w truth, though sometimes it takes a lot of people getting polio for them to figure out the truth I suppose.

I was thinking about this subject this morning. Until we see lots of RU mass surrenders or mutinies, things will probably not change. I'll define mass surrender as 10+ soldiers at once. We'd need lots of those. Going into last winter I was sure the mobiks would be combat ineffective due to bad gear, bad field practice, bad supplies, bad commanders, lack of rotation & rest. But it turns out one doesn't need to be very combat effective to hold a hole when there's nowhere to else to go.