Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Hannibal]

DSL, can you explain to me why the Dem party remains enthusiastic about some deal with Iran? Makes no sense to me?

The Democrats have a huge conundrum on their hands when it comes to Jews vs. Muslims, because it's all about who is a bigger/worse victim for them. The one thing that they all agree on is that Whitey = bad, but when it comes to two minority groups that have been oppressed by Whitey fighting one another, their brains short circuit because "oppressor vs oppressed" is the only math that they know.

[THE_WIZARD_]

DSL is an Anti-Semite

[Da Geezer]

Well your tax dollars did pay for it.

Yup. Plus the Biden administration's refusal to enforce sanctions, coupled with allowing Iran to access $ 10 Billion in "frozen" funds, means that the US paid for the missiles of the Republican Guard too.

DSL, can you explain to me why the Dem party remains enthusiastic about some deal with Iran? Makes no sense to me?

Israel had always needed to destroy the Iranian nuclear missile project, and now is the right time to get that done.

[Hannibal]

Plenty of worse things to spend it on.

Plenty of better things to spend money on too, although in the IDF's defense, at least they actually competently use all of the money and hardware that we provide them with.

[Mike]

The margin is something like 3 or 4 if every Dem votes to vacate. But the Dems will likely save him because they actually WANT the federal govt to function and not be held hostage to a handful of freaks every couple months.

Problem starts to become that some Rs in really MAGA districts might not want to vote to oust him but will feel pressure because rightwing media and social media influencers (once again) have been poisoning the base with absurd, unreal expectations. So the number of Dems needed could creep upwards.

Then again, in an election year it wouldn't be bad politics to let the Rs in the House trot out their clown car as often as possible.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Mike Gallagher's last day in Congress is Friday. After that the balance will be 217-213 for around a month until late May when McCarthy's seat gets filled.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The margin is something like 3 or 4 if every Dem votes to vacate. But the Dems will likely save him because they actually WANT the federal govt to function and not be held hostage to a handful of freaks every couple months.

Problem starts to become that some Rs in really MAGA districts might not want to vote to oust him but will feel pressure because rightwing media and social media influencers (once again) have been poisoning the base with absurd, unreal expectations. So the number of Dems needed could creep upwards.

[Mike]

How many people would it take to oust him? I stopped keeping track of Speaker Roulette.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Massie says he's with MTG on a motion to vacate Johnson so It really could be up to a few Dems to save him as Speaker if there's just one or two more morons out there.

[Mike]

Plenty of worse things to spend it on.

[Hannibal]

Just thought I'd break in for a thought or two on the ME situation.

I am totally amazed at the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system, and how it performed against the totally inept 'attack' by Iran.

Well your tax dollars did pay for it.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Ya think?

[crashcourse]

This white House house just doesn't get it

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=f1ab2a8b83aa9ad1JmltdHM9MTcxMzEzOTIwMCZpZ3VpZD0wNTEwMTVkOS1kNmVhLTYxZGYtM2NiNC0wNjYyZDc2NDYwZTEmaW5zaWQ9NTIxMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=051015d9-d6ea-61df-3cb4-0662d76460e1&psq=whitehous+offers+condolences+to+OJ+family&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9ueXBvc3QuY29tLzIwMjQvMDQvMTEvdXMtbmV3cy93aGl0ZS1ob3VzZS1leHByZXNzZXMtY29uZG9sZW5jZXMtb24tb2otc2ltcHNvbnMtZGVhdGgtd2l0aC1uby1tZW50aW9uLW9mLW11cmRlci12aWN0aW1zLw&ntb=1

[Jeff Buchanan]

More on Israel's win in the air v. Iran, and now we learn that all of Iran's major militias in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen were launching drones and missiles in coordination with Iran. In scale, it was a massive air attack, foreshadows how air wars are going to be run in the future, provided invaluable intelligence to the Israeli coalition forces and war time tested todays version of the IADs or Integrated Air Defense.

On active duty, I've worked in the command sections of NATO IADs that involve integrating different air defense systems and missiles into a cohesive network. Even in the 80s, unknown to the public, advanced air defense technologies were being built and used, under wraps, in Europe. A small portion or sector of it was tested in the Balkan Wars. The western coalition there had air superiority and part of that was gained with super secret capabilities that got some actual war-time testing and training and that was a long time ago. You can bet the west has the goods and I suspect some of that was on display two nights ago.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the air defense in this combat action was integrating shipborne capabilities into ground based capabilities and coordinating areas of action between 5 different countries that were involved. Potentially a C&C nightmare with misidentified friendlies getting shot down. None of that happened and the flawless performance of Israel's Iron Dome likely had something to do with that. Fighter jets had a turkey shoot v. drones and the Iron Dome took out missiles. This tells me that advanced radars, both air----born and on the ground, and Electronic Surveillance equipment were integrated into this combat operation. A drone provides almost zero radar cross section to radars that I was familiar with but I do know secret squirrels had some instant tricks up their sleeves to improve detection and targeting in the airborne and ground based radars of my day. Today, the F22 radars for example, and probably the most recent block of F16s are reportedly capable of detecting drones and engaging them with their radar.

Bottom line is that there are huge lessons to be learned for future and current conflicts gained from this 2-3h air defense "exercise." You'd like to think Ukraine could have a version of the Iron Dome operational in a matter of days or weeks. Not going to happen although Israel sells this thing and I think I heard that some country not Israel will obtain them and gift them to Ukraine. Caveat, Israel has been working on it's air defense to include the Iron Dome for decades. Effective air defense in Ukraine v. Russian aggression isn't going to pop up over night. But this war with Russia is a long term project. It's possible that the Ukrainians will hold out long enough for them to incrementally improve air defenses to protect and rebuild were necessary critical infrastructure, power generation and manufacturing capability - currently hi-value targets of the Russian Airforce in the hopes of preventing Ukraine from replacing combat losses from assets and production inside Ukraine.

[Jeff Buchanan]

A couple of good opinion pieces from yesterday wrt Israel/Iran conflict. Some background: these two have been waging a "shadow war" since the Shah was deposed and the Mullah's took over installing an Islamic government dependent on their interpretation of the Koran. The Iranian air attack launched from Iranian soil and directed at targets throughout Israel, including Jerusalem, is a first in the decades long "shadow war." It's a huge deal that is being misunderstood. The warnings that Washington provided publicly about an imminent attack coming from Iran, targeting Israel and what is likely classified information on timing and targets, not publicly released but shared with Israel, suggests deep penetration by western intelligence operatives into the highest levels of Iranian military planning and operations.

Analysts believe that several key government buildings in Jerusalem and the airbase that is home to Israel's F22 squadrons were the primary targets with an attempt to overwhelm Israel's air defenses with numbers while firing the most advanced cruise missiles at these targets. As of this morning, not a single drone or missile made it to it's intended target. The one seriously wounded casualty was a 7y old girl injured by falling debris.

Israel and it's many supporters who turned out in support of the defense of Israeli airspace are big winners here. Israel is being cautioned to not fuck up the win by responding with an attack on Iranian soil, though no one at this point doubts Israel could do it and do it well. That would ignite a wider conflict and produce ME instability that would rock economies world wide. Instead, western powers should double down on Isolating Iran further from the global economy. The current regime in Iran is facing the potential for massive protests denouncing it. The last time country wide protests happened was after a young woman, arrested for not covering her head, died while being held. Protesters were brutally put down and the protests died down. That does not mean that there is not a significant number of Iranians who hate the Islamic based rule carried out by the religious establishment. The more Iranians lack not only higher end consumer goods but also basic necessities of living: food, transportation, entertainment, etc., the more likely they are to revolt. The way to seed that revolt is to continue to play hardball with Iran and squeeze the civilian sector by denying them the western goods they crave, while isolating Iran's government from the global political scene.