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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. He probably should have listened to go pro dude and gone left to flank. My guess is it’s being shown to other assault teams regarding how quickly you can die out there if you’re being stupid. You can die out there being real smart, too, so why increase the odds?
  2. Honestly this shit should be on broadcast. It’s amazing to me that so many people I meet and have a conversation about the war have no idea there was a dam destroyed. Literally, no idea. Never mind all the other horseshit that’s gone on with it.
  3. I'd say Trump is more responsible for the anti Ukrainian sentiment than Carlson. I'll even say that vein of thought is there regardless, and they're both simply tapping into it. My anecdotal experience in talking to random people about the conflict is that almost everyone I meet is mostly indifferent. They're completely ignorant, don't really want to know more, and wish that money was being spent in the US rather than in Ukraine. It's my opinion a lot of those beliefs would exist even if loud voices weren't espousing the position. There's a chicken and egg dynamic going on. My biggest problem is that we're not doing a good job of justifying our involvement. I said the same thing yesterday when talking about F-16s as a tangent. My feeling is that we don't want to escalate the rhetoric with Russia, which is understandable. The problem is we're doing a terrible job of addressing the domestic audience about why we're doing what we're doing. We're avoiding the conversation in many ways, ignoring the critics, and hoping that somehow there will continue to be enough support among the elites to carry on. Which there very well may. But I do not believe it's the right way to handle it. The other problem is that support for Ukraine isn't going to help Biden get reelected. So from that perspective there's not a whole lot of good that can come from making it the center of attention.
  4. Well, grandma then.
  5. They will get ATACMS some day, but being able to fire US supplied weapons into Russia would require a different administration. That’s not cloak room. I’m grateful to this administration for their support of Ukraine. I don’t see another candidate out there that would do more. But it’s obvious they are prepared to withdraw support if Ukraine uses US provided assets to enter Russia. I hate it, but it is what it is.
  6. I don't think it gets much more intense than this footage. This is again from the Bakhmut side about 3 weeks ago, uploaded a little over a week ago. It's a full on assault against an entrenched Russian position, first with assault troops, then after initial success they have to call in reinforcements, including an M113. After moving forward they encounter more resistance and finally bring in a tank. I think it's a T-72, but honestly I'm talking out of my ass on that one. It's just a guess. Pucker up before hitting play on this one. This is the real deal. The brass balls on these assault teams is real.
  7. I fucking love this guy. President Zelensky telling it like it is with the other heads of state doing their play acting standing next to him on either side. Just call it like it is. And I'm with him. If we can't see things the same way, what are we accomplishing? Russia is pure evil here. The way they've behaved historically. The way they tried to bribe Yanukovych and encourage him to be a ruler for life by gutting the military and building up his internal security forces. They way they annexed Crimea and organized thugs to take over the eastern part of Donetsk and Luhansk. The way Putin repeatedly stated Ukraine was a historical mistake, and then tried to rectify by invading the country. The annihilation of cities and peoples who didn't want to be under Russia's thumb. The kidnapping and brainwashing of children. The destruction of anything with a connection to Ukrainian culture or identity. The indiscriminate bombing of civilians. The targeting of hospitals, ambulances, and medical workers. The sabotage of the dam, the concerted effort to cause as much of a humanitarian disaster as possible, up to and including bombing evacuees and the people trying to rescue them. The massacre of civilians with bullets in the back of their heads. The execution of prisoners of war, and now the wrongful trials. Fuck these guys. Fuck them right up the ass.
  8. Here's a public service announcement from a couple of attractive Ukrainian girls in uniform.
  9. Yeah, I posted a clip of an infantry assault on the Bakhmut side a couple of days ago. In the trench the Ukrainians took you could clearly see a Mosin-Nagant rifle in the background. I think I said something about the Russians using bolt action against AKs. Not saying assaults against forces armed like this aren't dangerous, but...yeah. That's not a fair fight in any way whatsoever. Not that I'm complaining. Just a bit in disbelief.
  10. More importantly, back to type.
  11. https://www.instagram.com/p/CtjvTyaOJOa/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet Abby Vanderwal commits to Texas. Rated as the #2 outside hitter in the class of 2025. Rumored to be a strong lean to Wisconsin or Minnesota, she was invited to the recent Texas elite camp and that's all she wrote. Texas is also the prohibitive favorite for the #1 outside hitter in Macaria Spears, and allegedly has a shot at the #3 outside hitter, Kaci Damaria. I don't understand how we have room, or how you convince the top 3 outside hitters in a single class to sign with the same program, but I want to believe. Here are some comments a non Texas fan who follows the volleyball club scene used to describe her prior to her commitment: "Seen this kid on the other side of the net a ton the past 3 years. Consistently will put her team on her back and terminate when everyone knows shes getting set the ball. Doesn’t have any other elite players around her to take the focus of the defense away from her. All solid, but none elite. Wants the ball in the biggest moments. Does everything well a 6 rotation outside needs to + Has an elite arm. In a class that has many elite players at the OH position, she sits #1 imo. " In sad panda news, the setter Texas seemed to be targeting for this class, Campbell Flynn, committed to Nebraska. I don't know who Texas is going after, but there are names being thrown around. I'm also unclear on who they'd sign as a middle blocker. Or where they'd get all the scholarship room.
  12. Torbush! That's crazy to me. The use of drones in this war has felt to me like the introduction of machine guns to the battlefield.
  13. I don't know. They're still trying to get into NATO (thanks Erdogan!). I mean, it's not an empty gesture they're willing to train Ukraine on them. I have no idea what's going to happen with Ukraine and western fighter jets in the future. I just feel confident they're going to eventually get some kind of package. WHEN that's going to happen is another question. What that will entail is another one. Which countries will be involved yet another one. I do wonder if Congress passed another $100 billion tranche for Ukraine that we wouldn't already be seeing F-16s over there, but that ain't happening. They're going to try to make the current authorizations work for as long as possible. F-16s would put a major dent in that plan. This isn't really part of the conversation we're having, but I will say that in my opinion, we're doing a terrible job of justifying our involvement in Ukraine to the domestic audience. I've probably talked to about 30 people in the last few days relaying the dam explosion, Russian efforts to keep people in the path of floodwaters from evacuating, and then opening fire on evacuation centers. It's the most powerful reaction I've ever been able to generate in others in a short amount of time. We're simply not doing a good job of relaying to the average American how bestial Russia is at its core, and why they need to be stopped now. I'm sure a big part of that is to not escalate the confrontation between Russia and the US, but the downside of that is the American people see any spending on Ukraine as money that could be spent in the US, and it's not going over well. In my opinion.
  14. Beggars can't be choosers. Yes. They'll take less than ideal British and French fighter jets, too, so no need to limit it to just those. The problem is, the Swedes have already said they can't really afford to give up any of their Gripens. They could always change their mind. The Gripen would be the most effective plane according to experts I trust, for Ukraine in their current situation. They were basically developed from the ground up to fight Russia under the exact kind of circumstances Ukraine now faces. VERY mobile small footprint maintenance platform. Less than ideal runway situations (can land/take off from roads, short runways with debris). The basic idea is to keep a defensive air force in the air even while Russia is bombing the ever living crap out of usable runways. Basically it's Gripens, then Hornets, then Vipers in terms of what's best for Ukraine. But the F-16s are the most numerous, and the most likely to be exported in numbers. Also, that's probably the mid term future for Ukraine after they win this war until they've earned the trust to operate 5th generation fighters, which is a ways off.
  15. Modi is going to be a problem. Rahul Gandhi was just in the United States doing a tour trying to galvanize the Indian diaspora over here against him. There are several countries where it would be beneficial if the opposition was in power. Turkiye. India. Poland. But they're too important to keep in our orbit regardless. Then there are countries that are a problem that would be even worse with someone else in power. Like Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Huh. Human interactions on an international scale are complicated. Who woulda figured?
  16. I mean, they just blew up a major dam. They stole or destroyed every flotation device and then fired upon people trying to evacuate after news of the dam's destruction got around. They fired on evacuation centers. Honestly, if you're showing compassion towards others and trying to help the less fortunate, you're a bane to their existence and must die. This is a culture sick at its very core. It's not new. This is business as usual.
  17. Maybe. I've noticed Ukrainian field ambulances don't have markings on them any more because Russian military was specifically targeting them. You say it's hard to explain targeting. It's hard to explain a lot of things, but they do them anyway. You just have to know if you're going to help people in a war zone where Russia is involved, there's a good chance they're going to try to kill you. Not accidentally. Purposefully.
  18. Merkava II has a 105mm gun. The Merkava III has a 120mm gun. Both of them use standard NATO ammunition. The overall design philosophy of the Merkava was to make it easily able to be repaired under battlefield conditions. The turret is placed towards the rear of the tank, with the engine forward, to help protect the crew from shots to the front. One of the interesting things about the Merkava I and II (the tweet only mentions Merkava II and III being sent) is that the Israelis used it as an IFV when the M113 APC was performing horribly. They took out the ammunition pallets in the rear, and allegedly it could fit 10 people. This was possible because of the clamshell entry/exit doors to the rear. The best tank for Ukraine are any Leopard 2s they can get ahold of, especially the 2A4 and 2A6 variants. But those are limited. They're getting the 31 Abrams in a few months. I'd say beyond those two, the Merkava will be the best tanks in their service. Frankly, the Merkava III is a really good tank. Especially the later versions. It adds another supply chain in terms of repairs, but a tank is a tank. Especially ones that can fire NATO 105mm and 120mm ammo. You listen to the people fighting in the front lines, and that's the message they keep repeating, "more tanks."
  19. Could've been an ammo explosion, too. I'm with you, though. Whenever I see explosions that big on these videos, I assume it hit fuel or ammo. Even with artillery strikes, there's a big difference when the target of opportunity has ordnance or fuel supplies. You see it.
  20. Boy, I never found McCarthy glorified violence. He made it seem horrifying. I still feel like you have a valid point. I just don’t know if MCarthy is the one I would make as Exhibit A. I never wanted to be one of MCarthy’s villains. They weren’t really sympathetic characters to me. To me he illustrated them as elemental forces. They are not to be celebrated. They are to be feared.
  21. It would be a shame if you were attacked in too brutal a fashion. In every other species a broken leg is a death sentence. Mankind is the only species capable of nursing someone so fundamentally crippled back to health, and also has the willingness to do so. There are innumerable fossil records of people given more elaborate burials than their peers who possessed some kind of infirmity. A woman who couldn’t chew and so it’s obvioua someone cared for her by chewing her food for her. People with dwarfism obviously celebrated in some way. We are tribal. If we associate someone else in some way as part of our tribe, we can be remarkably generous with one another. Even the most ruthless societies exhibit this. But an inherent defining aspect of being part of a tribe is having some kind of identifiable group that’s not part of that tribe. I don’t believe violence is inevitable...but it’s very close. Someone at some point demonizes the other tribe, often as part of a bid for power, and then our natural inclination is to go down a path of repression, deportation, and extermination. An overall outlook that emphasizes the good in everyone can lead to a mending of fences. But it can also lead to a tribe adding their culture to the fossil record, rather than being extant. Having said all that, I feel an emphasis on either view loses an important aspect of our humanity. Personally I am grateful we had someone within my lifetime who wrote so eloquently about something I consider essential to us as human beings. At the same time, I’m glad we have the capacity as a species for other expressions as well.
  22. I don’t think we can actually understand evil from a book, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. My thing is, we’re not on some kind of arc as a species where we get more loving and more generous with each generation, but there are people under the illusion that’s the case. I find that extremely dangerous, which is why I pulled the quote and commented on it. Over the last 70,000 years or so our species goes in various kinds of pendulums. Especially since the advent of agriculture, but even before then. No one measures past civilizations based upon how kind they were, and how happy their citizens were. And of those that were remarkable at instituting a level of equality, communal generosity, and individual freedom, they were invariably destroyed by more powerful civilizations built upon heirarchy, repression, and military prowess.
  23. “I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea.” Couldn’t agree more with this. It would take a level of repression that would beg the question of is the cure worse than the disease? More likely the people who aspire to such beliefs are taken advantage of by those of us who do not harbor such notions. Which is why it’s so important not to possess those illusions. That said, it’s also true humanity can be remarkably generous with one another, and that’s rarely a prominent feature in the McCarthy books I’ve read.
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