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Pretty sick stuff by Putin but unsurprising. You'd think this would push Congress over the edge on providing the Ukraine funding package that's been held up by the MTGs, etc. But, alas, maybe not. " joint investigation by 60 Minutes, the Insider, and Der Spiegel strongly suggests that the Kremlin has waged a sustained kinetic campaign directly targeting US government personnel both in the United States and internationally for a decade, with the likely objective of physically incapacitating US government personnel." Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 1, 2024 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org)

I doubt he'll read it but this brought me great pleasure in envisioning BC's head exploding as he reads this. Enjoy! https://www.wired.com/story/man-gets-217-covid-vaccine-shots-totally-fine/

More interesting than tank kills. Ukraine's Defence Intelligence posts final flight path of downed Russian A-50 – map | Ukrainska Pravda So, that's 2 x A-50s down and this latest one is claimed to be from an S-200 (SA-5) and not a Patriot. Pretty impressive they pulled out a system that in open sources says they retired 10 years ago and proceeded to shoot down an aircraft at that range. This combined with the reporting that they've shot down around 10 fighters in the past week or so is making for a bad week for the Russian Air Force. Ukraine might be losing some ground but the Russian Air Force is paying for it.

Interesting, it's almost as if they waited until after the Tucker interview.... Russian activist and Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison | Alexei Navalny | The Guardian

Some news to push this thread back towards its original topic... Russian activist and Putin critic Alexei Navalny dies in prison | Alexei Navalny | The Guardian My assumption is it won't move the needle in any direction. Sadly.

My apologies. Should have said "effectively veto'd" instead. Senate advances Ukraine aid bill despite Trump opposition | Reuters Regardless, I guess you can call me a pro-war bubba. I'll continue to be happy to side with Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. And, yeah, would have liked to see some US border security funding included in this bill. But, the grand master said all or nothing and so they had to go with nothing.

Senate votes for the Ukraine, Israel, INDOPACOM, etc Aid Bill. Quick analysis: when McConnell, Grassley, Cornyn, Thune vote for something and Bernie votes against it, it must be a decent bill. Now, if the House sinks this, it will be because someone who is not the current President but presumes to be veto'd it. I'm not sure that's what the founders intended.

I'll admit that at first news of this interview my initial inclination was to be disgusted with Tuck. However, I know think it was at least useful to the US and Western world's intelligence agencies to gain just a bit more clarity on Putin's intentions going forward. Additionally, now the US knows with a bit more clarity what it will take to get the journalist and Whelan freed (nothing short of turning over a few ne'er do wells we have jailed to which I say let them have them as we've certainly turned over many of these types before). And honestly, if Tuck had secured the release of the journalist, I would have celebrated that! As for Putin's intent going foward, this snippet from ISW's summary of the interview is instructive. Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev noted that Putin told the Western world in the most thorough and detailed way why Ukraine did not exist, does not exist, and will not exist.[6] Medvedev’s description of Putin’s interview further demonstrates that Russia has not abandoned its maximalist goals of eradicating Ukrainian statehood and that Putin does not intend to negotiate with Ukraine on any terms short of these goals. More assessment here: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, February 9, 2024 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org) If you agree with Putin's assessment that the unbroken tradition of Russian statehood dating back to the 9th Century with the modern "invention" of Ukraine - a country he insists was "created" as late as the 20th Century. Tucker Carlson interview: Fact-checking Putin's 'nonsense' history (bbc.com) is perfectly acceptable rationale for Russia to invade Ukraine and effectively install its own preferred government in place of the current one which is overwhelmingly supported by its people, then we'll have to agree to disagree.

One man's lying is another man's information warfare. Ukraine is in an existential war and using all the methods of warfare at its disposal. A more interesting discussion topic is this article. Putin won't make peace in Ukraine before 2024 US election -US official | Reuters For all the talk (led by the old football coach) about how weak the US military is these days, why would Putin have to wait until the US goes in a different direction politically?

Musing about "formal deprogramming" still doesn't quite hit the bar set by a certain former Prez musing about hanging a 4 star General, right? Now, she might be onto something concerning a few Karens out there. Start at 3:27 and let me know if you think she just needs a few prozacs and she'll go right back to being a concerned, conservative, (R) voting, and productive citizen. If you have some extra time, the YMCA rendition is quite entertaining as well.

Thought this was worthy to post for a good chuckle. The old mishandling of grenades on an aircraft mishap. Putin offered a bizarre explanation for Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death during a press conference at the Valdai Discussion Club on October 5 to deflect blame from the Kremlin. Putin stated that the Russian Investigative Committee Head Alexander Bastrykin informed him that the investigation found grenade fragments in the bodies of victims onboard Prigozhin’s plane, suggesting that grenades detonated inside the aircraft.[6] The investigative committee has reported publicly only that all 10 people aboard the plane died.[7] Putin also emphasized that the investigation ruled out external factors that may have caused the plane crash and implied that the plane crash victims may have been using alcohol or drugs onboard that could have led to the negligent handling of grenades (that were presumably on board for some unexplained reason). Putin claimed that, while the investigation did not test the bodies for alcohol and narcotics, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) uncovered five kilograms of cocaine during their investigation into Wagner – likely referring to FSB’s televised raids into Prigozhin’s mansion in June and July 2023. Putin added that in his opinion the investigation needs to test the bodies for substances. Putin’s bizarre explanation of the plane crash is likely an attempt to blame Prigozhin for his own and his comrades’ deaths and further disgrace him among his remaining supporters. Source: Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 5, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org)

We've all made our share of bad choices after our heyday. Former Navy SEAL who said he killed Osama bin Laden arrested in Frisco (dallasnews.com)

Donald Trump Has No Chance of Ever Becoming President Again - 19FortyFive If you really don't want Biden to get a second term, heed this article and find a better GOP nominee and do your part to get that person nominated.

Republican debate: Chris Christie was the biggest surprise of the event | Washington Examiner Don't sleep on Christie. Sure, he's no Ronnie Reagan. But, a former Gov of a blue state. Check. Think about it in terms of the general election. He might even win some blue states (New Jersey...duh!) but maybe some of your purples (your Georgia's, Nevada's, Wisconsin's) that are going to decide it. Personally, I think if you go DJT or any of his culture warrior clones then you spook the swing voters (see 2020, 2022 midterms, many other local elections, etc).

Going to be interesting to see how the Wagner Group moves forward (assuming it was actually him on that plane). Reportedly with his #2 on board as well, hopefully it ceases to exist as a functional organization. I imagine there are a few questions in Africa right now seeing as he seemingly was just there. On the surface an easy call for Putin, but he must have some real heartburn in terms of how effective Wagner was in many a Russian foreign adventure. The ISW's analysis is interesting... Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 24, 2023 | Institute for the Study of War (understandingwar.org)