Politics

[Wheels]

I guess people should just start disposing of the bodies, instead of calling the police. Lawyers are expensive.

Call 811 instead of 911

 

[Brent in Az]

Trump To Receive Nobel Prize For Getting Zelenskyy To Wear A Suit

OSLO — The Nobel Committee has officially announced that President Trump will be awarded the prestigious Peace Prize for getting Volodymyr Zelenskyy to actually wear a suit.

babylonbee.com

 

[Tex .416]

Not to brag, but the Canadian civil legal system has a "loser pays" rule. If you bring a bogus law suit and get clocked you are often required to pay the winning side's legal costs. It helps deter people bringing too many claims.

The so called “English Rule” of loser pays was implemented in Florida, but repealed after insurance companies complained because they were ending up paying attorneys fees in the vast majority of cases they defended. Translation: there were far more frivolous defenses than frivolous prosecutions of civil cases.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

Seems to be repeating himself unfortunately....

Kremlin plays down Zelensky talks as Trump warns Putin may not want to make deal

The US president conceded the war in Ukraine was "tough to solve" after several days of high-level talks.

www.bbc.com

Trump admitted the conflict was "a tough one" to solve and conceded it was possible the Russian president was not interested in ending hostilities.

"We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks," he said on Tuesday. "It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal."

Trump is either willfully ignorant or just plain dense. This is how it was before he took office, when he took office, a few months ago, and how it will be 6 months from now. He's like a parent counting to 3 but never following through. Russia will keep kicking it down the road, never, ever sincere about ever coming to the table or wanting peace.

One of my all time favorite movies is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. There is a line in the movie that reminds me of Trump and how he deals with Russia/Putin. Spock says, "He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking."

 

[rookhawk]

The so called “English Rule” of loser pays was implemented in Florida, but repealed after insurance companies complained because they were ending up paying attorneys fees in the vast majority of cases they defended. Translation: there were far more frivolous defenses than frivolous prosecutions of civil cases.

I can't speak for all of the civil laws, but I know in FL it used to be loser pays, but it applied if they had 1% liability. For slip and fall claims and similar, the loser pays if they are 51% at fault now.

 

[Wheels]

Like many cases of this sort, the worst time to comment on them is when the charge is laid, and the best time to comment on them is when the case is resolved.

In this case the intruder was air lifted to a trauma hospital with life threatening injuries, and last I heard, had not yet regained consciousness. Thus the police so far have one side of the story.

Where someone has suffered serious injury, or could die the police would be pretty negligent to not charge the other party so they can do a full investigation while the evidence is still available.

You can tell how seriously (or more accurately not) the police are taking the situation so far by the fact that they let the occupant go on a POA (Promise to Appear) rather than getting bail terms etc.

I agree that initial media reports are often lacking and even pathetic.

That said I am fortunate to live in a state where a homeowner protecting himself, his family and property would virtually never be charged by law enforcement in a case like this. I doubt I would ever live in a city/state where charging the homeowner was commonly practiced.

 

[RLD]

I agree that initial media reports are often lacking and even pathetic.

That said I am fortunate to live in a state where a homeowner protecting himself, his family and property would virtually never be charged by law enforcement in a case like this. I doubt I would ever live in a city/state where charging the homeowner was commonly practiced.

It really can get quite complicated. If the evidence showed say that the homeowner continued to beat the guy with a crowbar after he was unconscious I think charges make sense. Other than that, I would expect these charges to go nowhere over time.

But when the charges get withdrawn, that never makes the news.

 

[wesheltonj]

I agree that initial media reports are often lacking and even pathetic.

That said I am fortunate to live in a state where a homeowner protecting himself, his family and property would virtually never be charged by law enforcement in a case like this. I doubt I would ever live in a city/state where charging the homeowner was commonly practiced.

Well, that depends if it's a bar to prosecution or a defense to prosecution. That's about a 100k difference minimum.

 

[Brent in Az]

Arizona has the castle doctrine and stand your ground laws.
That's not to say that an aggressive crime loving county attorney, like we have in Tucson, won't try to make your life miserable in a legal quagmire

 

[Wheels]

It doesn’t look like China’s Belt and Road Initiative is doing very well in Angola.

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/china-under-fire-angola-riots-trigger-mass-exodus-and-factory-closures-5157714

 

[skydiver386]

Mobile microwave is gaining a lot of traction as an area protection system. This is not a jamming technology, but essentially fries the electronic components.

The Germans are fielding a kinetic solution which would also be effective against conventional aircraft.

Wire guided or fiber optic guided systems have 3 main points of vulnerability.

First is the missile or drone itself. Rifles, shotguns, and even expensive AA systems can be effective. Keeping the cost low and getting enough of them in the field is nearly impossible given the number used by both sides in Ukraine. The Germans have some absolutely superb AA systems that can deal effectively with drones, but the cost will prohibit use on a scale needed vs the number of drones used.

Second, the launch point or operator. Finding and attacking the drone operator is not like the old TOW missile days where you could hose down a treeline in an attempt to kill it's operator. Basing any system on attacking the drone operator is a long shot in my estimation.

Third is the wire or fiber optic cable. Although difficult to attack, this is the weak link in the system. Cut the wire or fiber optic cable, and the drone has no guidance, unless it's equipped with a backup system. A small fast rocket with sharp cutting blades at the tail would be one way to do it. If you've seen the "Gobbler Guillotine" you know what I have in mind. For anything farther than shotgun effective range, this is where I'd spend my R&D money.

 

[Red Leg]

Wire guided or fiber optic guided systems have 3 main points of vulnerability.

First is the missile or drone itself. Rifles, shotguns, and even expensive AA systems can be effective. Keeping the cost low and getting enough of them in the field is nearly impossible given the number used by both sides in Ukraine. The Germans have some absolutely superb AA systems that can deal effectively with drones, but the cost will prohibit use on a scale needed vs the number of drones used.

Second, the launch point or operator. Finding and attacking the drone operator is not like the old TOW missile days where you could hose down a treeline in an attempt to kill it's operator. Basing any system on attacking the drone operator is a long shot in my estimation.

Third is the wire or fiber optic cable. Although difficult to attack, this is the weak link in the system. Cut the wire or fiber optic cable, and the drone has no guidance, unless it's equipped with a backup system. A small fast rocket with sharp cutting blades at the tail would be one way to do it. If you've seen the "Gobbler Guillotine" you know what I have in mind. For anything farther than shotgun effective range, this is where I'd spend my R&D money.
View attachment 708377

I know of no developed targeting system that could lock onto the wire while the drone was in flight in a timely fashion. Unlike the TOW, these things are hair thin.

Shotguns are being tried, but have been found to be of limited utility based upon the reduction of infantry equipped with assault rifles when one is forced to replace them with shotguns in a platoon or company to get any sort of coverage. And no, an infantryman can't be expected to carry both.

The German system seems to be one potential kinetic solution though low angle high velocity automatic 30mm fire within my perimeter would not be something I personally would care to experience. Because of such range fan concerns, I think such a system will have the most utility in base, assembly area, or perhaps convoy defense. Low angle fire deconfliction is one reason the Army hasn't jumped on the Vulcan ADA system (20mm gatling) with an updated radar as a solution.

I really think a directed energy weapon of some variety - laser and or microwave will be the eventual solution for tactical maneuver formations.

 

[cwpayton]

Trump admitted the conflict was "a tough one" to solve and conceded it was possible the Russian president was not interested in ending hostilities.

"We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks," he said on Tuesday. "It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal."

Trump is either willfully ignorant or just plain dense. This is how it was before he took office, when he took office, a few months ago, and how it will be 6 months from now. He's like a parent counting to 3 but never following through. Russia will keep kicking it down the road, never, ever sincere about ever coming to the table or wanting peace.

One of my all time favorite movies is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. There is a line in the movie that reminds me of Trump and how he deals with Russia/Putin. Spock says, "He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking."

Hmmm, maybe he's willfully ignorant, definitely not my personal pic for foreign matters . however I wouldn't compare him to dense as he's made some great decisions for the homeland and economy. and I definitely wouldn't compare him to any hollywood movie, thats definitely drinking the cool aid as Rush would have said, just not realistic.
I would give him points for trying +2
I would give him points for keeping our military out +2
I would minus Him for giving the commie ,dictator ,murdering, lying , rotten, genocidal, ungrateful, unholy, deceptive, war mongering, child kidnaping, bastard, sob , a platform of legitimacy -2.
so I say he's +2 in the running.
I have some personal investment in the military so I'm glad we are not at war with Russia, but I would give the Ukraine what ever they need to destroy Putin, including nukes that they once had and gave up. Only one thing communist understand and that is absolute domination , brute force applied to the neck..
as I've said before cut off the head of the snake . This is the 3rd opportunity to bring freedom to the Russian people and bring down communism there, in my lifetime, I hope we don't squander it. I'd rather see them defeated in Ukraine than Texas , New Mexico, Arizona. Same for communist China,. I would give Tawain everything they need to defend themselves.

 

[Betterinthebush]

The technology in the drone field is impressive. We’ll figure out a way to defeat both data link and FO guided systems. Of this I have no doubt.

But the enemy is going to have their hands full dealing with our drone launched glide munitions that we are field testing now.

 

[cwpayton]

China increasing it's nuclear forces

https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/china-taiwan-nuclear/2025/08/20/id/1223212/

this looks exactly like Russia on Ukraine's border with 50,000 troops before they attacked under sleepy Joes admin.
I hope someone is paying attention to this .

 

[Red Leg]

this looks exactly like Russia on Ukraine's border with 50,000 troops before they attacked under sleepy Joes admin.
I hope someone is paying attention to this .

The actual number in the initial assault was closer to 200K. I would suggest those defiant Ukrainians did remarkably well. And yes, I hope we are both watching and delivering rather forceful observations of what we are seeing to the Chinese.

 

[Vashper]

No, the root cause of the problem is the territorial ambition of your dictator. Frankly, the West should not give a second thought to what Russia desires with respect to the foreign policy and treaty commitments of its neighbors. Russia no longer has the power to enforce such demands any more than the UK can demand France give up its nuclear arsenal.

Should it have missed your notice, the modernized Russian army - the work of twenty years - is so much rusting metal on the Ukrainian steppe and moldering corpses of a generation of Russian men sorely needed by a nation with a collapsing birth rate. The Russian air force is incapable of operating in hostile air space and the Black Sea Fleet, what is left of it, can't even operate in the Black Sea. All that has been accomplished by Ukraine. Do you really believe NATO has any serious concerns with respect to Russian conventional forces?

The West can and should do whatever is necessary to protect the security of the people of Ukraine.

Besides, since your brilliant strategic leader, however unintendedly, sponsored the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO, Russia already should be coming to terms with a close NATO neighbors.

Of course you can always sober up Medvedev for a few minutes so that he can threaten the West with nuclear Armageddon, but how much of your strategic arsenal will perform as designed? I would suggest not a single SLBM will have the opportunity to launch from one your submarines. It is unlikely any of your remaining strategic aircraft will reach anywhere near their targets. Some portion of your land based missile deployed warheads will strike the West. They would indeed cause catastrophic damage. But, all the US weapons would reach their targets. All will be precisely accurate. All will perform exactly as designed. Whatever damage you think will be visited upon the West, will be returned a hundred fold on Russia. It will cease to exist as an organized state. Its culture, language, and history would be erased from the earth. Is that really a meaningful threat to anyone other than yourselves?

I have a better idea for you and your countrymen. Try joining rather than undermining the developed community of nations. Set aside your paranoia and delusions of grandeur and embrace and exploit the economic potential of your nation. As I type, Russia's GDP per capita is 14,889 USD. That compares to the US per capita GDP of 85,810 USD. Russia, with all its natural resource potential, has a GDP per capita in the same range as many failing third world states. You really want that to be the actual legacy of this period of Russian history?

I don't quite understand the pathos on the topic of fertility - in the United States, the birth rate is slightly higher than the Russian one (typical for Europe), but not much (about 1.6 births per woman), and lower than necessary for reproduction (2.2 births per woman). And it is clear at whose expense the population growth in the United States is taking place. What are you proud of? If you were a resident of Gabon or Afghanistan, then it would be a different matter. As for military affairs and losses, well, no one has yet figured out how to avoid losses in the war. And there is progress in military affairs, it turned out that tanks no longer play the same role as before. Therefore, most of the Abrams tanks delivered to Ukraine, there were 31 of them, have already been destroyed or captured. It's the same with the Leopards, and the Challengers didn't even reach the front, but they still suffered losses. Both Bradley and the Paladins are burning in the steppes of Donbass, and the troops armed with them are slowly retreating. And they will continue to retreat.
I'm not going to argue with all the theses of Western military propaganda here, their veracity is easily verified by the actual behavior of Western governments, which are not yet rushing into battle to check the quality of the Russian army and the state of its nuclear arsenal. I'm just explaining the position of the Russian side: yes, there was a possibility of reconciliation and even some kind of unification. Yeltsin even agreed to withdraw Russian missiles from the territory of Ukraine, without demanding retaliatory steps from the West (the so-called "Budapest Memorandum"). And in return, he received the expansion of NATO to the east. Naturally, Yeltsin was compromised and had to leave, and then it was as it was. And you would have already decided whether the expansion of NATO to the east is a threat to Russia or not. If it is not, then why should we be upset about Finland joining NATO?
I repeat: a peace agreement will not be concluded until the issue of Ukraine's non-aligned non-nuclear status is resolved (this is, by the way, a quote from the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine). Or it will be - but only in the event of a military defeat of Russia.
And the suspicion that Putin and Trump have some kind of alliance is speculation. And the fact that our soldiers rode on a captured M113 with Russian and American flags is just such a front–line humor, in order to tease opponents. Perhaps Trump is thinking about who really benefits from this war, and who pays for this banquet - but no more.

 

[Vashper]

I doubt even with the land gains Russia will go for bases in Ukraine. Also, a pseudo-NATO membership is worth nothing. US, UK and Russia were signatories to Ukraine's sovereignty in exchange for Ukraine giving its nuclear weapons as part of the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. One invaded, and the others stood by and did nothing.

Ukraine has never had nuclear weapons. There were Russian weapons on the territory of Ukraine, and Yeltsin agreed to withdraw them.

 

[CoElkHunter]

It doesn’t look like China’s Belt and Road Initiative is doing very well in Angola.

https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/china-under-fire-angola-riots-trigger-mass-exodus-and-factory-closures-5157714

Good for them. Nothing good can come about from Communist China’s “beat the impoverished country’s population into submission and send them down the road” initiative. Sri Lanka is the poster child (country) for China’s B&R initiative.

 

[Red Leg]

I don't quite understand the pathos on the topic of fertility - in the United States, the birth rate is slightly higher than the Russian one (typical for Europe), but not much (about 1.6 births per woman), and lower than necessary for reproduction (2.2 births per woman). And it is clear at whose expense the population growth in the United States is taking place. What are you proud of? If you were a resident of Gabon or Afghanistan, then it would be a different matter. As for military affairs and losses, well, no one has yet figured out how to avoid losses in the war. And there is progress in military affairs, it turned out that tanks no longer play the same role as before. Therefore, most of the Abrams tanks delivered to Ukraine, there were 31 of them, have already been destroyed or captured. It's the same with the Leopards, and the Challengers didn't even reach the front, but they still suffered losses. Both Bradley and the Paladins are burning in the steppes of Donbass, and the troops armed with them are slowly retreating. And they will continue to retreat.
I'm not going to argue with all the theses of Western military propaganda here, their veracity is easily verified by the actual behavior of Western governments, which are not yet rushing into battle to check the quality of the Russian army and the state of its nuclear arsenal. I'm just explaining the position of the Russian side: yes, there was a possibility of reconciliation and even some kind of unification. Yeltsin even agreed to withdraw Russian missiles from the territory of Ukraine, without demanding retaliatory steps from the West (the so-called "Budapest Memorandum"). And in return, he received the expansion of NATO to the east. Naturally, Yeltsin was compromised and had to leave, and then it was as it was. And you would have already decided whether the expansion of NATO to the east is a threat to Russia or not. If it is not, then why should we be upset about Finland joining NATO?
I repeat: a peace agreement will not be concluded until the issue of Ukraine's non-aligned non-nuclear status is resolved (this is, by the way, a quote from the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine). Or it will be - but only in the event of a military defeat of Russia.
And the suspicion that Putin and Trump have some kind of alliance is speculation. And the fact that our soldiers rode on a captured M113 with Russian and American flags is just such a front–line humor, in order to tease opponents. Perhaps Trump is thinking about who really benefits from this war, and who pays for this banquet - but no more.

Good luck with that position and analysis.

With respect to your nation's current conundrum, if I accept everything you imply about NATO supplied weaponry, you are simply making my point. To repeat, Ukraine, not NATO and not the US, has destroyed the work of a generation of Russians attempting to modernize their conventional forces. That army simply no longer exists. Those trained officers are gone. The Russian air force has proven itself impotent. The Russian navy in the Black Sea was defeated by a nation without a navy. The remnants of that fleet now cower in port. Those are, however uncomfortable, facts.

How do you truly believe the Russian Army currently maneuvering in their Lauda automobiles, motorbikes, and afoot would fare in Ukraine against a NATO mechanized corps supported by a fifth generation fighter force and stealth bombers and waves of overwhelmingly accurate munitions?

I hasten to add this has nothing to do with the bravery and fortitude of the individual Russian soldier or his tactical leadership. I was a career soldier, and I have nothing but admiration for the burdens they bear under inconceivably incompetent strategic direction. My finger is pointed solely at the national leadership who took your country, its treasure, and its blood into a quagmire of its own creation. It is a leadership whose only answer to this crisis is to try to kill and destroy its way out. How much longer will the Russian people, and perhaps more importantly, its armed forces tolerate such waste?

I am sick to tears of the bullying of an angry paranoid child-state demanding things it can not on its own achieve. I only pray that my president is finally awakening to the true nature of Russia and its leader.

So rattle your nukes and demand non-alignment for Ukraine just as the Soviet Union and then Russia demanded it of Sweden and particularly Finland - both of which now make a mockery of your demands about Ukraine. Hopefully we will have the wisdom to supply Ukraine with the material they require to inflict another million casualties as you attempt to gain another 1% of Ukrainian territory. Perhaps then enough true patriots will arise in your country to fundamentally change its course.

I think you are an intelligent and informed enough person to know NATO represents no overt threat to Russia however many states join the alliance. Putin knows this. What he actually fears is a successful European oriented democratic state on his border that can be immediately compared to the destitution and hopelessness which characterizes the fast majority of the Russian Empire outside the old dutchy of Moscow. Is that a strategic position about which a citizen should be proud?

Eventually, I pray enough of your countrymen will awaken to the disaster precipitated upon it by the mafia-like dons currently in power in Moscow. The West would welcome a non-belligerent and non-paranoid member state to the developed world.