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Quote:skyfire2020 wrote:
My knowledge of world military is only what makes it into the conspiracy sites and what I've just found on Google, but the things that have me worried are the apparent Russian advantages in air defence systems (the S400 SAM system) and the rumours of their secret electronic warfare tech that can turn shut down enemy systems. Worst possible case is Russia shutting down all NATO tech the way the Cylons shut down the colonial forces in the BSG reboot.
But even if the EW weapon is a hoax, the SAM system is a worry. From what I've read, the US still has the better aircraft (F22) and a 3 to 1 advantage in aircraft numbers but Russia has a 2 to 1 advantage in tanks which may well be at least as good as their NATO counterparts. If we can't use NATO air power to wear down the Russian ground forces before they meet our forces, then it won't be pretty for our side.
That being said the closest I've ever got to a tank is playing Valkyria Chronicles so if the people here who know better say the links below are complete hogwash then I've no reason to disagree.
http://fightersweep.com/3414/how-scary ... am-system/http://allnewspipeline.com/Has_Russia_J ... Future.phphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c ... _equipmenthttp://warontherocks.com/2016/04/outnum ... eats-nato/
Mark
Advantages in tank numbers means nothing if you have conscripts driving the thing. As to S-400? Why use manned aircraft to take it out when unmmaned aircraft would work just fine?
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Well, tomorrow is make or break day. Which way will the Electoral College go...?
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Quote:Pyeknu wrote:
Well, tomorrow is make or break day. Which way will the Electoral College go...?
They will do their jobs. Do not expect any ex deus machina. I want to here from the conservative crowd after 4 years on whether this is what they wanted. Expect either telling silence or a lot fo deflections like "Hillary would had been worse." Trying to prove a negative.
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Anyone else notice the wonderful example of the Republican double standard this past weekend? North Carolina just elected a Democratic governor in November. The Republican legislature just rammed through a bill, signed into law by the outgoing Republican governor, that strips the incoming governor of many of the powers the office has enjoyed for decades -- among them the law that allowed the Republican governor to appoint a majority number of officials to the state election board (which the Republicans have used for years to gerrymander the state and marginalize minority and Democratic voters) and changing the rules on cabinet appointees to require approval by the state senate. I'll just note that the Republicans will still enjoy a veto-proof majority in the state legislature come the new year. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/us/pa ... .html?_r=0]New York Times coverage here.
-- Bob
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Okay this from NPR about Alabama's Stellar HS Graduation rate:
The books were cooked.
What is really the kicker is this:
Quote:Some educators, though, are fine with "getting [students] out the door," even if diplomas don't mean what they used to. "The
piece of paper gives you the opportunity to play the game," says Terry
Roller, the new superintendent of Talladega City Schools.
Roller
worries more about young people being able to feed their families than
about graduation standards that don't keep up with the economy.
"The
industries that students are going to be working in in 10 to 15 years
don't even exist," Roller says. "Who's to say that the standards that we
have in place now are preparing them for that."
For Roller, who struggled in high school, it's also personal:
"I
didn't go the traditional route, and now I'm the head of a school
district, making decisions to change the lives of young people. If we
can give them the diploma and get them out the door, they have a fair
shot. They can go out and create jobs and spark growth and change
communities. ... I did it."
Let me place this in context:
Talledega County ( Home of the Speedway) is one of the more poorer counties in Alabama. The racial makeup is about 2/3 white and 1/3 black. Like everywhere else, your zip code determines to what type of school you go to. This guy is saying he is fine running a diploma mill and he doesn't concern himself about the challenges they have to face. After all, he did ok. Kinda meshes of what I remember about the place. They really don't want smart folks over there. Critical thinking not encouraged.
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There was an ambassador in AnkaraWho was shot by a terrific wankererJust like Franz was beforeIt'll start a Great WarAmidst Russian hacking rancor-a
With apologies (???) to Foreign Secretary Johnson.
-- ∇×V
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Quote:They really don't want smart folks over there. Critical thinking not encouraged.
Of course not. Critical thinking -- hell, basic education -- serves neither the Republican nor the Fundamentalist Christian agendas.
-- Bob
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[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/ElectoralCollege2016.svg"> ![[Image: Hv5PLcu.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/Hv5PLcu.jpg)
Well, this explains why I feel like I'm underwater. I am encouraged that a First Nations person got an electoral vote, yet another first for 2016.
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I had hoped for more defectors.
Instead, we merely prove ourselves to be nothing more than a group of morally challenged and willfully blind bureaucrats.
God help us all.
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Not uncoincidentally, a pretty accurate fallout map of the United States...
You have the craters, and the radiation.
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If you like you can think of it as a map where the more money an area has, the deeper it sinks into the ground. Pecuniostatic balance, if you will.
I had not really hoped for more defectors. This was enough, a record, to say that this is not normal. This can't be solved inside the system. It can't be solved on Twitter or in forums. We need to be out in the streets.
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That's not necessarily true, vorticity. If Lake Austin is indeed Austin, then the smaller one southwest of it is San Marcos, which makes that big divot along the shore line San Antonio.
And everything else south of there? Some of the poorest counties in Texas. The only notable exception is that one sharp peak, but that's fracking country down yonder - they'd naturally vote Trump, and never mind that they've had a great run thanks to Obama.
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"Draining the swamp" is SO last month.
(Say, does this mean he's no longer a Republican? He's protecting a wetland!)
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Quote:DHBirr wrote:
"Draining the swamp" is SO last month.
(Say, does this mean he's no longer a Republican? He's protecting a wetland!)
No it means the GOP will let him do whatever he wants as long as he signs what's in front of him. You can hear his supporters that they have a mandate to do what they want.
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Before anyone can go in b4 i told you so....
Told you so.
And just for funsies...
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Trump starts the Doomsday Clock ticking again:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/let-it-be- ... -1.3910534
Somebody needs to explain to him the differences between "plain speaking", "political incorrectness", and "saying whatever damnfool thing pops into your head" - he seems to think there is no difference between the three, and that error is going to start a war if it isn't corrected.
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Don't see what the hub hub is all about. They're only saying the truth.
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Something can be the truth and still sound naive.
Perhaps I should re-phrase that.
One doesn't need to phrase the truth in such a way that it leaves people wondering whether you're informed of all the facts of the situation.
Perhaps I should re-phrase that.
There are different ways of speaking the truth, and some are less flattering to the speaker than others.
Anyway... In this case, it isn't the truth. Trump is saying that he'll build more and more nukes until all the nukes are gone. How many can you add to the stockpile before you reach zero in the stockpile?
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Rob Kelk
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Quote:robkelk wrote:
Something can be the truth and still sound naive.
Perhaps I should re-phrase that.
One doesn't need to phrase the truth in such a way that it leaves people wondering whether you're informed of all the facts of the situation.
Perhaps I should re-phrase that.
There are different ways of speaking the truth, and some are less flattering to the speaker than others.
Anyway... In this case, it isn't the truth. Trump is saying that he'll build more and more nukes until all the nukes are gone. How many can you add to the stockpile before you reach zero in the stockpile?
Lol... Rob you know I was being sarcastic, eh. The truth according to the GOP.
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Well, yes, but casual readers may run afoul of Poe's law.
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them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
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Here's a bit of good news via The Guardian: American Nazis are starting to feel Trump suckered them and isn't a serious white supremacist. Quote:Activists who recently gave Nazi salutes and shouted “hail Trump” at a gathering in Washington will revolt when the new US president fails to meet their expectations, the leaders told the Guardian.
The prospect of such disillusion and internecine squabbling may console liberals who fear a White House tinged with racism and quasi-fascism. All the more reassuring because it comes from far-right influencers and analysts, not wishful progressives.
Instead of enjoying proximity to power, according to this analysis, vocal parts of the loose coalition known as the “alt-right” could remain on the political fringe, wondering what happened to their triumph.
On the minus side is that suggestion of "revolt." I'd rather not find out the hard way how much damage these vermin can actually achieve.
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Great column on CNN.com today: http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/opinions/ ... bottomlist]It's your duty to laugh at Donald Trump
-- Bob
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Yeah, that would be cathartic...but some just wouldn't be in a laughing mood, Bob
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Every time Trump starts going on about a wall along the border, I keep hearing this:
Ronald Reagan Wrote:Mister Trump: Tear. Down. This. Wall. --
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
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![[Image: pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-c...20x900.jpg]](http://www.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain-720x900.jpg)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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