All_Pro_Bills

Our friend @sherpa was pretty confident Russia's conventional force capability was inferior and they've performed more or less as expected. I have to believe the military and Russia analysts at the Pentagon, State dept, and Intelligence drew similar conclusions. But as is typical the publicly provided assessment strays from the confidential one.

There is indeed a lot of BS. The fact Russia's frontline force is a mercenary group is telling about the incompetency of their government forces. Another thing I find particularly absurd is that Putin's goal is to re-capture the former Soviet block States. They've demonstrated the ability to re-take nothing. Its pure fantasy. Surely, he must know that along with every military analyst at the Pentagon knows it. Every time I hear somebody articulate that danger I get a good chuckle. It's about as likely as me regaining my youthful energy and "good" looks. Something I've shouted out low and high is we should be.100 times more focused and concerned about China. In a lot of ways the obsession with Russia is a dangerous distraction from the real threat. Like worrying about a Racoon rifling through the trash can outside the cabin in the woods while unnoticed a pack of Wolves lurks just beyond the treeline. Lately. It seems that threat is started to get more attention but more is required. Not only are they building a formidable military they've also infiltrated most American private and public institutions through their program of "elite capture".

I appreciate your insights on these weapons systems and previous experience with Russian tactics and weapons which enables you to understand and "see" the conflict from the perspective of the opponent. A valuable skill in many areas. I do have a few follow up questions if I may? Short of tactical nukes, are there any weapons in the arsenal you would recommend being withheld for proprietary or other reasons like not wanting to risk the enemy capturing and reverse engineering it? Sure we said do whatever it takes but everything has constraints and risks. Do you think the Russians are holding back anything? Advanced weopons or assets like special forces units? What's your best case assessment for Ukraine? My rudimentary assessment is there's no path to victory, if that's defined as expelling Russia from all held territory, without a direct US/NATO combat commitment. That appears off the table, for now

I'm not familiar with the specifics of the rules of engagement but aren't civilian areas generally off limits regardless of the type of weapon?

They can easily drug test every government employee that was on duty that day. Nobody should protest. It's a matter of national security. If they can force you to take a shot it should be okay to provide a urine sample. And I assume all "guests" are required to sign in so it shouldn't be hard to narrow it down to a couple suspects by simple process of elimination. We all know the identity of one likely suspect but like every other suspicious action from this crew they'll bury it and the media will memory hole the story. While claiming Hunter is a victim of all those mean people suggesting a coke addict might be a prime suspect in this case. KJP will answer all questions on the topic by saying she doesn't want to get into hypothetical (I might try this approach when my boss asks me when I'll be finished with client requests. I'll let you know how that goes). When she speaks the no comment answer the WH press corps will bark on queue with approval and that will be the end of it. Just in case the emperors pretorian guard known in Washington as the FBI will be on call to harass anyone that says a discouraging word about the Biden's. Everyone enjoy your weekend.

Maybe you should wake up from your dream and ask why the FBI is running a political protection racket?

What Russia wanted was assurances NATO wouldn't park tactical weapons in Ukraine right across the border and in exchange Russia would reciprocate on their side of the border. This was clearly articulated in discussions which were attended by officials from Washington. Is that point of contention such a show stopper? Deescalate and remove offensive weapons from the border. Is avoiding that deal worth sacrificing 1/2 million lives and blowing $100 billion of borrowed money? Of course the response from the war hawks is we can't trust Putin to keep his word. But it's not his word. It's an easily verifiable and visible arrangement. What many are missing is this conflict is a mere sideshow and a diversion from what most of the rest of the world prefers. Negotiating mutually beneficial arrangements. And outside of the European vassal states the majority are looking to disengage from our 20 ton truck doesn't need road manners foreign policy. The consequences of this are much of the world is in the process of accelerating arrangements with other nations without the US being dealt into the deal. The BRICS alliance, the belt and road iniative, shanghai cooperative organization, energy deals in the Middle East, the Saudi's moving away support of US interests in the region, and most threatening China spreading their influence across the planet with business deals and economic development while we engage in perpetual conflict. The worst part of it is how so many are oblivious to it all.

The Council on Foreign Relations is a "think tank" that has consistently advocated and supported every failed war and intervention hatched in Washington. Among its ranks are lobbyists for weapons suppliers, neocons, and an army of war proponents that shuffle between the Federal bureaucracy and the defense industry and various organizations advocating for war. All that's been accomplished by this is to kill lots of people, line the pockets of Washington and defense industry insiders, and weaken our country from within and in the international community. This Ukraine fiasco will end no differently. Another one in the loss column. The other thing these clucks have accomplished, is what I expect will go down as one of the biggest strategic blunders in history which is to drive China and Russia together out of necessity and a common enemy. How stupid is that? To consciously make a decision to bring the #2 and #3 world powers together against you when it would have been just as easy to pursue a policy of engaging Russia to form a US/Russia/NATO alliance against China. That's my major beef with this entire conflict. Not some inclination to see one side or the other prevail or some flag waving exercise pretending we're supporting some fledgling democracy against evil but rather that it wasn't necessary and several better alternatives were available. But the sociopaths and savages just couldn't resist another opportunity to blow stuff up and watch more people die. So now we'll suffer the consequences of dropping down to #2 in a not so far off time.

Suburban middle/upper class liberal white women are too busy running their kids around town to various activities and Summer camps in their gas guzzling Escalades and Suburbans (with "Demand Climate Change Action Now" bumper stickers in a demonstration of no self-awareness) to have any time to worry about gun control laws as long as urban black young men are the majority of the people getting killed.

Thx. I'm familiar with the Council on Foreign Relations.

But they can recite the social justice classification hierarchy of victims from memory so the fringe nutjob set find them both to be immensely qualified.

And how do you know this? There's only a couple ways. You have firsthand knowledge or you have reports from trusted sources. But reports also indicate they're targeting hospitals, schools, malls, and old folks homes with missile strikes while avoiding any military targets. And didn't Ukrainian Nazi militia's murder Ukrainians of Russian descent in the Eastern provinces from 2014 to 2022?

I'd be curious to objectively understand what specific "rights" and "freedoms" poster believe Ukrainians have under Zelensky that support the conclusion they have more "democracy" than Russians do under Putin. For example, Zelensky's jailed journalists and outlawed opposition political parties in alignment with a couple things Putin has done. I think its pretty close to a draw.

She fits right in with the rest of the administration. If you've ever seen some of Biden's cabinet level appointees testify to Congress they don't know anything about doing their job either. It fits with hiring the dumbest person you can find as long as they check off all the diversity and inclusion boxes on the application.

It's been great for the Washington neocons, psychopaths, and other assorted war lovers. None of them have been killed, yet. But I'm holding out hope Satan will soon summon them back to Hell.

Of course we already know with 100% certainty that any official investigation will fail to determine the identity of the responsible individual and the case will be closed without any charges being filed. Even though everyone with a pulse and a heartbeat knows exactly who the primary suspect is here.

The censorship and media community have decided its in your best interest to not include the fact the shooter was associated with BLM because in their opinion it's an unnecessary detail. No need to worry yourself about how that might impact motive or the selection of the targets. Maybe that association did impact the actions of the shooter or maybe it didn't but let's avoid having that conversation. Or maybe the person is simply mentally deranged? Leaving out some facts to spin the story in the appropriate direction is a tactic commonly referred to as lying by omission. Or maybe the investigating super sleuth reporters employed by these major news outlets will reveal the shooter is one of those Black, White Supremacists we've been hearing so much about recently? But seriously, my expectation is since the shooter is some cross dressing weirdo they'll be portrayed in some fashion as "the victim". Watch and see.

Are you getting battlefield intelligence reports from some credible source on the ground? I ask because there's been little to no official statements about the composition of forces committed to combat. And not much news about the offensive other than vague statements about progress being "slow".

That's a totally absurd conclusion. Any historian or scholar proficient in the study of the WW2 era is capable of quoting many prominent figures of that era, including Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt, Eisenhower. Perhaps military commanders might still study the tank and battle tactics and words of Rommell, but does that imply they're fans of the Field Marshall? How that knowledge of historical quotes and writings assigns some ideological view escapes me. And this Mom group being some secret Nazi organization? Because of some cryptic and secret signals some crackpot twitter users are reaching with to label them as evil? It has to odor of desperation because they're starting to lose the war on the modern battlefield of culture.

I stand by that statement, in the current version of American politics and the media all that matters is what you can get people to believe. The truth is to be avoided. Watch the news and listen to how its presented. An event and then an opinion. And in politics the Democrats a just a lot better at fooling people or the people they fool are a lot easier to fool. Look how many brain-dead idiots still believe Trump campaign official colluded with Russian government assets. 7 years of nothing and waiting for that indictment. But they still believe. I know lots of these folks. I ask logical and reasoned questions and they just give back the blank stare.

If you live long enough, you'll observe a pattern of behavior in politics. They never solve any problems because solving a problem eliminates a problem, and eliminating a problem means one less problem to use as a campaign issue. Given that theory there will be no reparation payments. Just talk of reparation payments. Like "vote for me and I'll give you $5 million dollars each". Ha, ha, fooled you again!

Jack Smith's political associations and job resume support the conclusion he's DNC operative posing as a Special Prosecutor. He's a professional scumbag.

While slavery was immoral and an afront to basic human rights by current standards of civilization it wasn't legally defined as a crime. Under "the rule of law" in place prior to 1863 slavery was legal depending on legal statutes like the designation of "free" States or not that were in place prior to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth, and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. It's a subtle distinction but a distinction none the less. I'm not sure where you're going with your comment but if you're making the argument reparations are supported based on some violation of law and the commission of a crime, I'd counter that the argument has no legal basis.

Good enough. I was in a July 4th ruling a Federal judge presiding over a case detailing government/social media censorship has issued a temporary injuction agiant Biden administration specific individuals and agencies prohibiting them from contacting social media companies and their employees. On queue, NYT reports the move endangers effort to fight the ever present danger of misinformation. But like Bill Maher said, just give me the facts and leave your opinion where it belongs on the Op/Ed page, and I'll decide for myself what is misinformation.