I actually have a bidet, which saves me a LOT of TP. Installed it after M's brother had hemmorhoid surgery... he used it once, and it kinda blew out his aiss too much, so, oh well. It's kinda nice to use, and lessen the TP needs and expense. Chafes my arse less than any aisshat here.
News this week includes a lot of careless smoking stories, including a Frigate.
Also footage of criminals throwing Molotov cocktails into what was described as a commissary (PX) and recruitment office, ( probably both ) allegedly in Russia. I say criminals, since arson is a crime, period.
I might be in favor of their opinions, even applaud the apparent insurrection against their dictator. But without context, arson is a criminal act.
Btw, Look! That's how you do Insurrection! ( a public service message... )
The current Agitprop is that Putin is fighting a Mafia group. Which is probably true. He has many enemies. And it wouldn't surprise me that Biden* is bribed by them.
That doesn't mean I'm pro Mafia, Putin, or Biden*. I'm not especially afraid of Putin nuking D.C. since that might kill his best allies for ruining Western Civilization. Florida, I'm worried about. ( Russia Collusion Conspiracy Theory potential!!! )
My bet is the White House show runners decided to Brag about how awesome they are to gain poll points, and are so used to the Media acceptance of revision of the record, aka, lying about what Joe* just said, that they believe they can get away with anything.
Mostly because they have. And nobody in D.C. fears a nuclear attack on them, since they are the greatest ally of the Enemies of the country. Putin may nuke the UK or Berlin but the D.C. glitterati are safe. They think.
I'll point out that the "unstoppable terror torpedo" recently announced on Putin Media that would wipe out the British Isles and leave radioactive wasteland behind, if used on U.S. East Coast military bases, will wash D.C. with it's artificial tsunami too.
And the terror weapon was announced a few years ago, if you paid attention.
The deadline for the planned celebration of the Soviet Defeat of Nazi Germany is tomorrow.
And yes, with some legitimate rationalization, the view that The Soviets won the war, with useful distraction from the Allies, like D-day and around the clock strategic bombing, is valid, based on number of soldiers who died in the war. They have, historically, a lousy ratio of casualties, made up for with mass conscription of a larger population and encouraging progress by shooting people who retreat.
Being Russian Military cannon fodder has never been a great life enhancement.
My opinion is it was probably ego that led to some idiot bragging to the press how we helped Ukraine sink the Russian flagship.
Some people just love to feel important. Leaking highly classified information gets them attention and some reporter sucking up & laying on the flattery, to get more leaks and the leaker sucks up the stroking...
Never a thought to who gets killed for their momentary glow of pleasure.
And these leakers get a lot of people murdered. Long term, perhaps millions.
Now consider what may happen this week if Vladimir decides to punish Joe* for his support for Ukraine.
How about a nerve gas release in the NYC subway, with a fresh MAGA hat left as a distracting "clue"? Poison gas at a Supreme Court protest in Maryland? EMP nuke over Ohio, taking out the East Coast to the Rockies? ( millions dead )
My bet is a very unsubtle but deniable terror strike that isn't instantly known to be Russian, ( no radar tracks ) and doesn't risk bad maintenance failure. ( so no hypersonic missiles crashing into the Chrysler building, but failing to go boom. )
Vladimir is old, desperate, insane, and hyper rich, not stupid.
excerpt: "INews, an independent news source in the UK, is reporting that a network of former Soviet sanatoriums and other sites in regions including Siberia, the Caucasus, the Arctic Circle, and the Far East, are housing Ukrainians forcibly removed from their homeland. Some of the camps are up to 5,500 miles from Ukraine".
Stalin would be proud of Russia's "AirBnb" for Ukrainians. Smells a tad like the playtime that the Soviet Union and the Third Reich created for their "guests".
Always Assume some of this is propaganda. Remember not all propaganda is lies, some is just selective. For example, talking about one side's casualties but not the Other's.
The above 2 posts were for humour in a distressing situation.
One new rumor ( so far unconfirmed ) is that Putin has started a mass draft. Mobilization of everyone available for cannon fodder. By current law in Russia, that takes a declaration of war, but the rules don't apply to Vladimir Putin.
I'd throw in the irrelevant note about Obama's Wars including the Hillary requested Libya war, ( according to Obama, for "hawk credibility" in her 2016 Presidential campaign ) not being legal either. But technically no war except the Liberation of Iraq has been legal since 1941, as far as Congressional Approval goes.
I'm not excusing Putin, I'm complaining that our Congress has been hypocritical for more than my lifetime on the subject of war, responsibility, and accountability. That's not relevant, just background noise.
The Nasty parallel is denial of benefits and health care for veterans of undeclared wars.
Which is happening today in Russia. Mothers wondering what happened to their sons, and being lied to.
Everyone involved is the child of some family. The bad behavior, looting, murder, is from the top.
My current WAG/bet is China declares it's taking back the ancestral lands of the Mongol Empire, ( which has lots of resources & oil ) "ideally" from the Bering straight to the Urals, and a big chunk of the 'stans.
How well that would work for Xi? Scary. What's NATO do then?
Pure speculation! But it has to be so tempting, all that space. The resources and chance to export a billion unmarried males without losing them as productive population. Since, of course, the new/old territory would be under central control.
& There's Vladimir, a drone war, lots of lost military hardware and personnel, and the West emptying stockpiles into Ukraine without the production capacity to quickly replenish, due to the to Covid & Left influenced economic & supply crisis.
If a new virus, call it LockdownUltra, or LU2, sweeps the planet in June???
And then there's the Finns and Swedes, with equally valid, and older claims to western Russia...
Think of the "defecting" diplomat as a whistleblower in the Mob. Quits to protest the choice to expand operations by selling heroin & the added danger to the company. Publicly. Not the "smarter" retirement quietly in a distant country.
It might have been a choice between getting murdered with his family by Putin or attempting to get into a kind of Witness protection program.
A LOT of murdered Rich Russian monsters these last few months.
Also, the Ukrainian e-bike company Eleek makes very light (only 140 pounds), nearly-silent, olive-green, Eleek Atom Military electric dirt-bike motorcycles ($5,220 each) for battlefield usage (see eleek.com.ua/en), already in Ukrainian Army service.
Afaik, the U.S. doesn't have E-bicycle troops. ( the vast majority of the motors come from China, though Bosch and Yamaha make them too. ) Sure seems like a fairly stealthy way to move infantry. Bicycle Dragoons make a lot of sense. ( cavalry mounted troops that fight on foot and use horses/bikes to move quickly, but aren't equipped or trained to fight mounted. Traditional Cavalry is now riding tanks and armored vehicles. )
As a bicycle rider, I know it's very hard to wield a saber or pistol like horse borne troops can. Horses auto stabilize and it's specialized cavalry training to use weapons while in motion.
Darn useful, bike Dragoons with anti tank and anti aircraft weapons. Harder to target than tanks and artillery.
The Eleek guys look like they use aircraft welding and design principals, and it's typical Ukrainian. Remember, the bulk of high tech planes used by the Soviets came from Ukraine, and a HUGE number of small businesses were born after the Big Soviet airplane companies downsized after the Fall of the USSR. Home built airplane kits, propellers, hang gliders, ultralights, Ebikes, drones, all started by laid off employees of Big Tech like Antonov.
The fundamental problem the Putin scum led Russian forces have in Ukraine is 2 sided.
Corruption, and dishonest officers are poorly leading poorly trained and equipped troops.
Ukraine, while corrupt and divided, isn't a third world $#&+ pit like Syria. The military is a par trained ( if not better, with Western help ) ex Soviet force, so it's more like New York attacking Pennsylvania.
Textbook case from Carnage & Culture by VDH. Citizens defending against the Slave Soldiers of the God King.
It is not aircraft principals, it is regular principals to build lightweight structure.
It is not more like New York attacking Pennsylvania, it is more like Pennsylvania had Nazism and part of Pennsylvania decided to separate from Pennsylvania due to anticonstitutional capturing of power in Pennsylvania and Nazism in Pennsylvania and then Pennsylvania started attacking the separated land and New York started actively protect the separated land after 8 years of terror in Pennsylvania aimed on to the separated land.