ABSR

Step away from the ledge a little. As has been discussed Putin is a rational actor. Now his definition of rational is different than yours and mine, but from the perspective of Russia/Organized Crime Boss/Thuggery he and Russia are consistent. Putin is a survivor. If something does not work he blames others, escalates, or changes the narrative (lies) so that his "truth" fits what he wants to do. He has to know from both US/West, and even China and India that Nuclear/Chemical will change everything and that it will no longer be a conflict whose narrative he can control. I CAN see him doing something with the Nuclear power plant and blaming the Ukrainians or West, so there are bad/horrible options. But actually using a military Nuke is his big and final trump card to threaten...but once played he is out of options. As a survivor he will do a lot of bad shit, but he won't cut his own throat.

These guys are wearing every single piece of clothing they own so that it won't get stolen. And just think that this picture of the grandpa brigade is the best picture they could give to show how great things are going.

Unfortunately Comrade the maintenance records burned up in the crash so we can not investigate further. The voices in the video sound strangely American.

If you want something similar to this, but for needy children, there are a fair number of "Christmas Angel" type of organizations. I would recommend finding one that is tied to a women's shelter, children's hospital or organization that works with specific people. They will have specific kids/mothers/families on their list that are already confirmed to need support. We have done this for several years and for ones we have used I liked where they gave you a specific list/kid description. Such as 5 years old girl or 8 year old boy. Then provided a list of what was requested, and sizes. When you get a wish list and it starts with winter coat and then shoes (not Air Jordan's, but just tennis shoes) along with sizes, coloring books and other small requests it makes you and your kids appreciate what you have, but also that you are truly helping someone in need. We often would get clothing at the size requested and then the next size up too. It's usually anonymous, and it let's the kids parents (or Santa if the parent chooses that route) be the ones giving the kids something which I also think is important.

It will always be Duck tape to me.

Even aggy thought it was weird.

Fixed it.

So your vacuum broke your dishwasher?

Only if your wife finds out.

The simplest answer is often the correct one. Has anyone checked South Austin's Mom?

Or just update and send out new ones. Or get an X-ACTO knife. I had a teacher in high school who told the story of working in Egypt at an English Language school there (her husband was in US Army and stationed there). They were there before peace treaties were signed with Israel, so late 70's. Their school ordered 20 blow-up/inflatable globes, which were like beach balls with the world map and countries on them. BUT, they had ordered them from somewhere that showed Israel as a country. Egyptian customs cut out Israel from each of the blow-up globes and then repackaged them and sent them to the school with a hole where Israel use to be.

On Christmas? Would that make it a Christmas miracle, or just a miracle that happened on Christmas?

the top four teams from each district advance to the playoffs. The two schools with the largest enrollments automatically advance to the Division I bracket.

Better be clear that it is 6-8 times with a woman...otherwise she will tell him to enjoy himself and not wake her up.

I don't know what would be the tipping point, but we can look back to Lindbergh and his pro-German faction in the build up and start of WWII, and he and that group did see the light. So this will change some people on that side and the longer it continues more will come over.

To answer the Ukraine question first, I think they continue to do the same, which is act professionally and logically to fight and win a war. If you saw the video of the Russian whose leg was trapped between a building and his BMP that crashed, he asked the Ukrainian to finish him. Which the Ukrainian responded to by slapping the Russians forehead and saying "We are not like you!" So I don't worry about this type of actions changing the Ukrainian response...which has generally been great. For how the Russians little will change, and I expect more of this....but the issue is they have to use missiles which they have already used up in large numbers and which they can't manufacture any more (due to sanctions). So they will continue to expend stocks of high value, and almost irreplaceable, missiles on infrastructure and civilian targets thinking this will weaken Ukrainian resolve and make themselves feel good about "doing something". But it will have almost no military value and will only make the Ukrainians and free world see more of Russia as the horrible entity they are and also how impotent they are as a military because they are not good enough to use these resources to strike military targets to ... you know... try and win the war. In Syria they had air superiority and could drop cheap and easy to get dumb bombs on any civilian targets they wanted. So in effect they could destroy towns, cities, infrastructure all over the country at-will, and they did so to break the opposition. The difference is that in Syria they could and did kill/destroy everything, so the option was defeat/death or defeat/life (albeit a shitty one under Russian/Assad oppression).

I don’t think explosives were necessarily planted on the train, but on the bridges. If just the train blew up then maybe, but look at the collapsed roadway sections. Do you see bomb or explosion craters and damage? No. The roadway surface and upper areas look generally unharmed, yet large sections just collapsed into the sea as if their support columns were destroyed and they then collapsed. An explosion on the train would not cause this damage to the separate and lower roadway unless it was massive and destroyed the surface sections of the roadway and train line together, which does not appear to have happened. I would bet on planted explosives on the roadway supports and if that was the case, then likely explosives placed on the railway too.

Don’t be so impatient. Give him time!

Hopefully in this regard we can all agree "Don't California my Texas!" ...not that Texas doesn't have our share.

One of the best TV shows ever! "As God as my witness, I thought Turkeys could fly." Here is a longer cut. Just fantastic.

After mating, the female human will often make the male marry them. Top that!

That's a reverse mutton chop. Or a no-hawk mullet. Or a lost bet.

Those were likely our newer ones (ones for our military to use) that we were forward deploying to Europe to increase our presence in support of NATO.

I think what it showed to me is this is how Russians live, not just fight. It wasn't a fog of war thing, it was just accepted as how they do and should act. To me it reinforced my belief that Russia is really just a giant mafia country. Putin is the head Mafia leader and there are multiple "families" or groups (oligarchs/industries/government entities). Stealing, corruption, beatings, murder, lying, threats which are carried out, or threats which are not because the other party is too strong.

No one wants to go to Buda, and even when someone is paid to go there they put it off as long as possible.