Coffeesforclosers

Initial OSINT analysis says Ukraine destroyed or damaged 15 Russian strategic bombers, AWACS and heavy cargo lifters. So we're a bit of a ways from the 41 claimed in public, but still quite the coup.

I'll keep reiterating a point BMan made two-ish years ago. The war will continue so long as one side thinks it can win outright or thinks that any kind of fighting is better than the most likely peace deal. The game we're playing right now is the diplomatic equivalent of Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush telling the military to get this whole Iraqi insurgency sideshow wrapped up so we can move on to what's really important. Which is why the war goes on and on and every day we look more foolish and weak.

Pro Russian mil blogger Rybar would like to remind us that Russia no longer has the capacity to manufacture the types of bombers that were attacked/damaged/destroyed in this operation.

Great, now he and Vivek can start a club for ex-Whiz Kids.

It's like a Game Day Thread. If you read two pages of griping about Soft Zone! We're up by 10. Fire McDermott! We're up by 7. If you see 13 seconds references and Beane flak, the score is tied. Fire McBean, Soft Zone and 13 Seconds all at the same time? We're down by a score to a worse team before the half.

Yeah, we can point fingers all day. In fact that's what our elites are counting on us to do. The fact of the matter is the deficits keep on exploding, regardless of who is in office. There are no adults left to put in the room.

Ah, Bummer. Ukrainian GRU is usually much more efficient at this sort of thing.

I ignore Donald's rhetoric (he's a professional salesman and pitch artist after all). I look at his actions. His words are populist, transformative and unconventional. His actions/policies are fairly similar to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. He's looked into Putin's eyes and seen his soul. He's for supply side economics. He thinks deficits don't matter. He makes a stink about DEI/Affirmative Action/Political Correctness. And so on, and so on. All the tariff shenanigans are just the virtue-signaling and grandstanding. W would have executed the same things quietly via smoky backrooms using the Bretton Woods architecture. But then he wouldn't have gotten as much credit or burnished his personal brand. He has successfully repackaged and sold the Country Club GOP's agenda, because JEB! and his ilk were too hooked on West Wing re-runs, and because Donald's part of the Country Club.

Replace the onside kick with a round of bare knuckle boxing. The first team to draw blood or get a knockdown/KO gets possession. Don King some how ends up with 25% of the ticket receipts.

We're living in W's third term.

Of course. But Trump said he'd fix the problem really fast and easily. He's been at it for four months and so far all we have is a trade deal with one of the most corrupt countries on the planet, so I'm told. And of course we have to get this done for humanitarian reasons you know? But at 5k dead per week, apparently there's no rush? And after pledging to stop the hopeless slaughter, our big threat is to walk away from the conflict...which is a benefit to Russia and does not stop the killing... So exactly the level of bungling, aimless, strategically bankrupt diplomacy we've been practicing since 9/11 so far. But hey, maybe time will prove me wrong. I know we're preparing for the great war against China and we're all hard headed realists. So obviously there's no benefit to China's greatest ally feeding itself into a wood chipper. What we actually have to do is try and bribe Russia out of China's orbit with a combination of Ukrainian land and American trade! And what could possibly go wrong funneling investment and land to a corrupt petro-state with terminal demographics and a hatred of the West?

The Germans must be near their wits end to say this out loud, via somebody with a defense minister's influence and status. But fundamentally he's right.

About as childish a response as you can get.

Deion should have hired an actual PR firm. At least he could have sued them for turning his kid into a laughingstock. But Deion should have done a lot of things different. Pride's a hell of a drug.

Well, he can respond to the will of the electorate and actually govern. This involves...gasp... compromise. Or he can watch Britain run by a pissant, meme driven vulture like Nigel Farage, or whatever empty suit the Tories prop up.

I used to like Baltimore back during the drought. Now the ***** shitbirds can kiss my ass. I wonder how they'll choke against us in the playoffs this year?

Related, France is in discussion with other EU countries regarding the basing of French nuclear weapons and nuclear weapon delivery systems outside of France. Designing and building more Nuclear weapons is in the cards, assuming EU countries no longer trust the NATO Nuclear Umbrella.

Thanks for thanking me, B-Man, but this is the exact same regime that was slaughtering Christians and Alawites back in March.

There are bunch of ways to lower health care costs. Like when my Union negotiates for coverage for its membership. There's a ton of us, so we get great coverage at low prices. Now I bet, if you got Robert Lighthizer to negotiate drug prices on behalf of all Americans aged 26 and over, we could some pretty great deals. Instead, we get a ***** sandwich of virtue signaling and government-mandated price controls. Yeahhhhhh.

Silly Russia. Maybe if you'd just taken your L and lived to fight another day... Instead of telling your shills and simps that this is actually a crusade against corrupt, nazi loving American puppets bent on destroying you... Then you could negotiate reasonably? Oh well, chalk off another 1200/day to the cemeteries, hospitals and PoW camps.

Well, if I were a Calvinist/Reformed Protestant, the answer to that question is an unequivocal yes. As God decreed all things in eternity past, according to the good pleasure of his will and for his glory as stated in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Jesus is the Triune God, unless you're some kind of Partialist/Modalist/Arian heretic. If you don't like that, then I'd point you to Romans 9:20-21, Isaiah 45: 9-12, and Jeremiah 18: 1-6.