March 27, 2022

Imagine the potential showdown if Ginni Thomas is subpoenaed.

by the 1/6 committee and she refuses to show up. If it gets referred to justice and then ends up in court , her husband could potentially rule on it.. Take about a conflict of interest.

March 22, 2022

Is there one republican on Judge Jackson hearing

who actually asked legitimate questions that are pertinent to Judge Jackson nomination to the Supreme Court or are they all spewing right wing hate ?
I can't bring myself to watch..

March 9, 2022

Hopefully the tech described in this article has been perfected and is operational..

https://abcnews.go.com/US/us-successfully-intercepts-icbm-ship-launched-missile-historic/story?id=74248760

In a first-of-its-kind test, the United States has successfully used a small, ship-fired missile to intercept a target Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), according to the Missile Defense Agency. The successful test shows the U.S. military now has another missile defense system capable of defending against North Korean ICBMs aimed at the United States.

This was in 2020. That particular test was with a system deployed from a navy ship. Apparently, we also have ground-based ones. Back then, the threat was possible North Korea launches of ICBMs.

Now, obviously North Korea, if they had ICBMs (I don't think they do, just medium range missiles) would be only a few of them. Russia can launch 6000 at a time.

If we have not ramped up since 2020, the current events may motivate the US to gear up. I do not know how many years it would take to have enough of these deployed and effectively have an iron dome neutering any saber rattling by Putin.

Nevertheless, its encouraging and it may mean that in the short to medium term (a generation?), ICBMS will be rendered useless.

March 3, 2022

President Biden SOTU speech was so incredibly good

It was so well received by the vast majority of americans, greater than 70 % at last count depending on which poll you look at. Even the Washington Time had a good article about it.

In times of crisis, President Biden unique ability to connect with people is an asset that maybe the white house should use more. Not only is he excellent at it, that form of communication - i.e big, televised speech on every network and cable outlets reaches everybody regardless of their political leanings, it allows for bypassing the usual media bias.

Unsurprisingly when told the truth in a rational and empathetic way people understand it. This reminded me (sort of, I was not born) of the FDR fireplace chats.

I wonder if the white house could come up with a way to do something similar so that they can stay connected with the public. The question of course is, would the networks carry it if it was a regular thing or is this kind of gravitas only a once-a-year thing provided by the SOTU?

March 2, 2022

Would NATO intervene if Putin triggers article 5 by invading a NATO country

or will there be some advocating for not doing so in fears of triggering ww3/ nuclear war ?

If that's the case Putin holds all the cards and there is nothing that can be done.

March 2, 2022

Is there a trigger for actual military intervention ?

I know that we don't want to get involved directly for fear of triggering an all out war. I do wonder if that calculus changes if Putin starts mass killings by leveling cities with millions of people in it like Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Do we just stand there watching, wearing sunflowers and blue and yellow or does this motivates NATO to establish air superiority to stop it ? We did it during the Bosnian wars over Sarajevo.

It all hinges on whether or not western powers believe Putin would use nukes if we ground his air force over Ukraine.

March 2, 2022

I've yet to see Manchin converse with a democrat.

He is not even pretending to be a Democrat anymore. He is mingling with the gop senators, flanked by Mitt Romney.