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SL Xpress

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Everything posted by SL Xpress

  1. I'm not going to get into a discussion regarding who's the better coach between Beard and Adams, because that's a non starter for me. Beard is one of the top 5 basketball coaches in the country. He's the whole package, from strategy, recruiting, hiring support staff, energizing the fan base, convincing stakeholders to invest in the program, to getting buy in from his players...what have you. Adams is not the whole package. But he was highly successful in the junior college ranks. He was Beard's chief assistant and the architect of the no middle defense. Last year he did a phenomenal job under difficult circumstances. Better than Beard did, who also took the Texas job under difficult circumstances. Adams is a good coach, as long as we limit it to Xs and Os type stuff. Not to mention Tech fans felt like they'd been stabbed in the back, and so the success he brought last year was an even bigger deal for them than anything Beard had been able to accomplish at Texas. All I'm saying is we thought we had our answer, and now we don't. Same thing happened to Tech fans. More than looking down on them with contempt or ridicule, I can sympathize. They thought they had their guy. Turns out they didn't. I posted it elsewhere, but they've got a heck of a list of coaches they've gone through, all of whom have departed under somewhat unusual circumstances. From Dickey to Knight, Knight, Gillispie, Tubbs, Beard, Adams. There's a lot of weirdness in that list. During that same time frame we've had Barnes, Shaka, and Beard, and half a season of Terry. I'd feel mildly cursed as a Texas Tech basketball fan right about now. I don't blame them for any excitement they try to generate in hoping Lucy doesn't pull away that football this time.
  2. Hahahaha! I know, right? Imagine a fan base having something like that happen to them. I know I can’t! Hahahahaha!
  3. Switzerland is heavily integrated into ammunition manufacturing within EU/NATO countries. There were previous issues with them not allowing the release of Gepard ammo, for example. A member of the opposition party in Switzerland is trying to introduce a bill to allow workarounds to Switzerland's constitutionally mandated neutrality by allowing countries to do get releases for ammo/weaponry they've purchased, while still forbidding arms/ammo to be directly sent from Switzerland to a combatant. The chances of it passing seem poor at the moment, and will take a while regardless. The way European military industrial complex works is that many systems are built, supplied, and maintained by multi nation consortiums, in much the same way US systems are built in multiple states. It helps to spread the wealth, spread the costs, and get more populations on board in supporting their manufacture. I'm talking 10 nation, 14 nation consortiums. Which is fine in peacetime, but sure makes for a hell of a mess when rapid escalation in production would be nice, or if everyone has to get on board to give permission for export. The Swiss opposition leader has cited this as a threat to their defense industry, which it certainly is. Switzerland isn't a massive producer of arms, but military exports do make up around 1-2% of their GDP, so it's not inconsequential, either.
  4. Georgia proposing law making it illegal for “foreign agents” to interfere with internal politics. Russia used the same law to crack down on opposition. The thing is the US has had a policy of directing pro democracy funding to different opposition groups, including Russia, Ukraine, and many of the Arab Spring countries. Nonethless Georgians who are protesting are indicating - like Ukrainians before them - they are pro EU, pro Western, and want out from under Russia’s influence. If they stick with it there’s a chance they can be successful. While definitely pro Russian and certainly repressive in different ways, this Georgian government lacks the same kind of commitment to remaining in power that Assad, Lukashenko, and the Iranian theocracy have. Once protests get massive enough and last long enough, at some point you either need to kill a lot of people or step down. I guess we’ll see which direction this goes.
  5. An exaggeration to say he was always right, but he was often right regarding military matters. But yeah, he tried to use the difference in his potential approach to Georgia to differentiate himself from Obama, but that was never going to win an election. The 2008 financial crisis determined that election. Anyway, loved that guy. I know not everyone has fond feelings for him, but I miss him.
  6. I've read reports that 4 elite (don't know what that means other than max training, equipment, and experience) are being positioned - 2 in the north, 2 in the south - for a possible encircling movement around the Russian flanks in Bakhmut. Allegedly intelligence/reconnaissance have spotted some weak defensive areas that could be exploited. It would be a kind of all in move. Don't know if it's going to happen or not. Prigozhin has actually hinted at the possibility in one of his recent videos decrying the lack of ammunition and support being provided. The time to get out of there was a couple of weeks ago. With the mud, the lack of exits, the roads under enemy artillery fire, and the amount of troops and equipment still in Bakhmut, they'd have to push Russian forces back to have a path for a decent withdrawal. The good news is in the last couple of days the enemy advancements in the north and south have stopped, and the advances in the east are because UAF abandoned anything east of the river.
  7. It's crazy to me anyone thought he wouldn't. He's not an introspective guy. He's going to want to move on. And someone in P-5 is going to hire him, because he's an outstanding college basketball coach. The key was getting the charges dropped in a timely manner. Which happened. All I know is that if it's not at a really strong program, he'll end up building them up then bolt the first time he gets a better opportunity. No question. I keep maintaining he's the next Kentucky coach. Just don't know when it's going to happen.
  8. ACU tells me he could have fucked it up.
  9. To me that's exactly what Putin and his cronies - FSB and otherwise (oligarchs) - are. They're flat out mobsters. Mobsters don't "gain" power if they're already in control. It's just different mobsters gaining more power.
  10. "Kotsyubailo was one of the youngest Heroes of Ukraine and received the title in 2021. He defended Ukraine in 2014, when he was 18 years old. In 2015, he became a company commander. He was also the first military volunteer to receive the title of Hero during his lifetime for personal courage shown in the defense of state sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine." https://www.kyivpost.com/post/13963
  11. Well, sure. That's the whole point. What I'm asking is, does anyone have a realistic scenario that doesn't turn into the massacre of thousands, and possibly millions, with the situation no better at the end of it than it was at the start? The West isn't going to intervene. The border countries aren't going to intervene (maybe if it got horrific enough Turkiye? But that has hair all over it, too). There's not going to be a military coup. There won't be an overthrow from elites. Either people give up their protest - which doesn't look like it's close to happening, it looks like it's heading in the other direction - the government relents (hahahahahaha!), the government engages in mass executions on a frightening scale, and/or someone somewhere arms militant protesters and we get Syria II, Electric Boogaloo. I'm not seeing anything else. Are you?
  12. Well, I considered it a nightmarish disaster when Khomeni took over. It's been 40+ years of railroad tracks to hell since then. This is just a new level. My point is I don't think we're remotely at the nadir, yet. Not even remotely.
  13. Maybe so, but things are definitely heading in a direction. For me it's like if Syria and ISIS had a baby. And they possessed uranium enriched to 84%.
  14. Do you have any kind of best case scenario for what is going to happen? Every realistic possibility I come up with feels like a nightmarish disaster.
  15. My grandfather who grew up on a big wheat farm in Kansas moved to west Texas back in 1956 to teach military pilots how to fly helicopters. Eventually he bought some land and told people he was going to grow wheat, and they told him he was crazy. He did it anyway. The crops were never as healthy as the ones he grew up with in Kansas - or the ones in other parts of Texas where the soil isn't rocky clay. But he grew it. Then stopped because it was too fucking hard to grow wheat on rocky clay soil, lol. Easier to grow hay and pasture land and raise cattle.
  16. Honestly it's just flat out ignorance on my part. No real excuse for it, given how much I read on this kind of stuff. Common sense would have told me they produce a huge amount of food. But my prejudices focused on how much they had to import, not on how much they actually grow. And again, there's fucking Australia shipping out 1/15 of the world's exports of wheat. Never would have thought that in a million years. Unless the wheat was made of copper. It was just me being dumb. Nothing wrong with that. It's healthy for me to be reminded of how dumb I am. Hubris is a terrible terrible thing.
  17. I love this post so much. I love people telling a small portion of their story. What the fuck else are we on this planet for, anyway? I love all the discussion on here. All the people willing to impart their knowledge, wisdom, and pass on snippets of what's going on when they can. I also love the policy discussions. I want to know what people think, really more so even than the actual news. How does this effect you? What's your opinion? I get so much of the Russian bot perspective on other sites I have to admit I'm a bit jaundiced, and find this place a welcome respite, but if someone has a legitimate reason for not wanting to support Ukraine, I want to believe there's some part of me that's willing to listen. There's a huge portion of the Global South that feels like the West is a bunch of hypocrites for supporting Ukraine the way they are. Whether I agree with it or not, it's a legitimate point of view. I get we have to stay away from the Democrat/Republican talk. We just have to for reasons. No way around it. But regardless of the need to stay away from it, doesn't mean it's not pertinent. There's just no way to have a reasonable discussion, and that's just the way it is. Anyway, thanks for the post. I really enjoyed reading it. Oh, and the Garry Kasparov quote reminds me of this scene in Broadcast News.
  18. I appreciate a lot of your posts, Bevo. But this one in particular I find helpful because I'm gobbersmacked by it. Just shows how much I personal prejudices influences my internal incorrect assumptions. There's a lot of numbers on there I would have bet a lot of money the other way if someone had asked me about it. Never would have guessed China or India. France I knew on some level, but I would have thought Ukraine was higher. Never in a million years would I have guessed either Pakistan or Australia was that high. I've always thought of Australia as this doughnut where the great preponderance of people live relatively close to the coast and the middle of the continent is this mostly uninhabitable hell hole full of every deadly flora and fauna known to man. Probably some we're not aware of thrown in the mix. Anyway, thanks for educating me.
  19. Many of them are just sunk.
  20. Um...it's the internet. There were people saying Charlie Strong needed more time. Put enough people in a room and all kinds of opinions get expressed. We're not a hung jury. It's okay if people decide they'd like Terry to be the head coach. I'm appreciative of him as well. I just don't want him as the next head coach. But we're not going to get a unanimous position on this. And that's okay.
  21. Most of it is flat out pandering and opposition politics as far as I can determine. Americans have a natural propensity towards isolationism, and the people actively speaking against US support are directly appealing to that. My favorites are those who have been all in in terms of supporting the Israelis (whom I support as well) who have been the biggest beneficiary by far of US foreign aid for 60 years, but when it comes to Ukraine it's "America First!" AIPAC is real. The thing is, foreign policy has rarely been the factor in US elections. People by and large simply don't give a shit. Even getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq weren't the number one determiners, although 1968 and the Vietnam War is the big exception. My guess is that whoever wins the Republican nomination in 2024 campaigns on the idea of better record management, no blank check, and using more of the funds being sent to Ukraine on projects at home. But like Nixon in '68, or frankly Obama in 2008, who ended up keeping Guatanamo open and never did pull the troops entirely out of Afghanistan, things can change once a person actually gets into office. But I know I'm voting for whoever indicates they're the most committed to Ukraine. I honestly don't care what their other positions are. Maybe the hard lifting part of the conflict is over by the time the election comes around? Ukraine will still need a massive amount of support, but maintaining a defensive position along a hostile border is different than trying to collapse layers of entrenched defensive lines.
  22. There's an Iran thread, so I won't go into it. But I don't think they're interested in actually calming down the Israelis. There's going to be another big air strike at some point. Assuming the Israeli pilots aren't boycotting. But another thread.
  23. "...makes Putin’s Russia appear to be an empathy-devoid dystopia." "appear" "...he said no, it will be more like the Jews remembering the Egyptians." Holy shit. What a line. Great delivery, too. I'm going to repeat that one a bunch.
  24. Anything further you want to add to that, I'd love to hear about it. Not trying to make you slave away at the typewriter for my amusement. But I'd love to get his perspective, or in any case your perspective on his perspective, lol. Thanks for sharing.
  25. I don't know the answer to that. I would think the budget for Texas went way up last year with all the staff Beard was able to hire. But I don't know that.
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