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atomheartbevo

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by atomheartbevo

  1. I'm sure some of what we do is because we care, but I don't think it gets sold in Congress without discussing what it does for our economy. And I will add that it's in our interest to prevent more wars in Europe, not just because they are our largest trading partner, but that's a large part of it - we can't help but get involved once wars scaled up to the numbers they did starting in WWI, and that means American dead, and it's cheaper to keep things under control than send American boys off to die. With that said, we have the navy that we do because we want to have that influence and we want to keep lanes open for US or US-adjacent shipping. When the Red Sea shit blew up, the world looked to the US, and the US felt obligated because of the amount of shipping that goes through there. It's the same reason the Brits had a massive navy for as long as they did, albeit we are a lot less colonial than they were. It's also why Russia struggles to project power over long distances (although I'd say they were struggling to project power into the country next door). I do think this will be the year that the war truly comes home for a lot of Russians who bury their heads in the sand about what's happening. There's only so many Norks that can be funneled into Kursk, and if Russia is slowing down or losing ground in some parts of Ukraine, that's a manpower problem, and Putin is going to have to get a lot more aggressive about drafting Russians in Moscow and St Pete's.
  2. It's not, but in terms of the ISIS/ISIS-adjacent fuckery, they are closely related financially and religiously. Lot of money and ideology (along with some foot soldiers) flowing out of the radical schools in Saudi Arabia into Africa. If Syria collapses, I'm assuming Turkey gets heavily involved, and hell, toss in some ISIS-related groups (who are still in Syria). If Putin goes, Iran loses their best ally (and maybe last?) if Russian dissolves into infighting, and things get interesting in Africa if the Russians pull out (or they go full-on rogue with some oligarch running and funding things).
  3. Putting aside Russia falling apart, I'd point to the Middle East. It's very clear the fuckery in Syria is still going on. I don't think the Shiite/Sunni stuff will fully blow up this year, but the potential is there if they feel the Iranians are weak. I'd also look for whatever succeeds ISIS (or a rebranded ISIS) to rear their ugly heads in Africa.
  4. Leon continues to be rewarded. SpaceX to receive $17M grant from Texas CHIPS Office
  5. They were/are our largest trading partner. While we like to talk about being (at least in the past) the "Defender of Democracy" the reality is that so much of what we do militarily is not out of altruistic principles, but because the spice goods must flow. We intervene in or prop up countries and feed poor countries because we want those markets and natural resources and/or we want to keep other countries (China, formerly the USSR, possibly India in the future) from nudging us out of the equation.
  6. Pray that the enemy doesn't put a few rounds into the battery pack. Or that they create a chokepoint consistent of car washes.
  7. We will have a nice week next, which means all the Californians and other outs-of-staters in Austin for SXSW will think it wouldn’t be bad to move here.
  8. Could be that he explained that if we pull out of European affairs, China moves in. You have to keep it simple and appeal to ego.
  9. About as well thought out as some of our past offensive schemes.
  10. Maybe our great-grandkids will get to see the 26th James Bond when it's released sometime in their lifetime.
  11. The stock market will reward you richly, good sir!
  12. Is it like national signing day when the uncommitteds and unsigneds are either hamming it up for the cameras, or panicking that they went with the wrong brand?
  13. Let me translate that for you: "We can't report the location because so many of our homes are on wheels".
  14. He absolutely knows that his brother and the Tesla CFO and other bigwigs are selling a shitload of Tesla stock over the past month. There’s no way he couldn’t know it given their positions in the company or on the board, and he knew it before we peasants knew it and before it hit the news. And groups and sites like this used to be pro-Musk or at least pro-Tesla and now they are calling him out https://insideevs.com/news/753055/elon-musk-share-price-down/ How much of his wealth is tied to Tesla shares?
  15. Uggh, had something like this (almost) happen to a relative - he had Alzheimer's and his wife became extremely ill and damn near died (covid back in 2020) and he had no fucking clue and just went about his routine as best he could (she normally cooked for him, but he found the cereal boxes and would eat dry cereal, etc.). It played out over 3-4 days, she was unable to do pretty much anything on her own and was saved only by the fact that when he wandered by on the way to the living room, and she could get his attention, he would bring her water. Their daughter found her after no contact for 4 days. At times, she couldn't get his attention and he would just go about his day walking just a few feet away from her, and never realizing how much trouble she was in.
  16. Then that's even worse, because there should be no excuse for Russia to lose anything in Donetsk if they are not moving pieces around the board like that.
  17. The casino lobbyists were going to make a serious run at getting their wishes fulfilled, and even had legislators bought off lined up to support them, and had a shitload of ads running all over the past year pointing out all of the money that was flowing to Oklahoma and Louisiana. And here we are, and some legislators are talking about not only keeping the casino ban but also banning the lottery. And Paxton and Patrick and others are a little freaked out because that's a fuckload of money that flows into the state coffers every year and the Uptight Brigade wants to ban all gambling.
  18. Well I was married, so not much sex was being had.
  19. There's going to be a huge temptation on my part to say "well, Elon said you all were a bunch of parasites to rely on the government to show you when there's a tornado, so who am I to argue with Mr. Musk. Parasites must be dealt with, and if that means with tornados, then Inshallah."
  20. As somebody with relatives in Oklahoma and who is in Oklahoma at least once a year, they are, or were, pretty fucking proud of how accurate/timely the tornado stuff was getting, and that it was saving livings. Most of my relatives know somebody who has been affected by a tornado, were themselves affected, or have spent more than one night in a storm cellar because the threat was "near" (not like it is these days where they are drilling down to city neighborhoods practically with predictions). If they regress in their prediction capability back to the 1990s or earlier, holy fucking shit, a lot of people are going to die during the next outbreak because these days a lot of people will not head to shelter unless the storm chasers or meteorologists show them a radar with a debris ball bearing down on them. I'm going to laugh, as long as it's not little kids.
  21. I have a relative who was bitching about Tesla stock last week. He could be a shareholder, but probably not, but has defended Leon. I asked him why didn't he personally buy a Tesla - he just bought a Ford Edge for his wife, and with the package he picked, not too far off from a Tesla. Now the answer is that he only buys Fords (he fucking hates Chevy because Dale Earnhardt, I shit you not), but he tried to ignore it and bitched that liberals were buying Tesla but aren't now. I asked him if the Ford CEO called him a parasite for collecting Social Security, if he would continue buying Fords, and it was like "well the Ford CEO wouldn't do that" and I just pointed out that the Tesla CEO did call him that. Yeah, fun times.
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