Post by mhbruin on Jun 1, 2022 8:53:38 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 585 Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
--------------
I Knew a Man Who Used a Coffee Enema Every Day. Nobody Liked Him, But With an Enema Like That, Who Needs Friends?
--------------
Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
This is Not the Gang Who Can't Shoot Straight. This is the Gang Who Won't Shoot and Can't Get Their Story Straight.
As new details emerge that change the police narrative of what happened during the Robb Elementary School massacre last week, the school district police chief who led the law enforcement response had not responded to investigators for two days, a public safety official said Tuesday.
Uvalde school district police department chief Pete Arredondo, who was sworn in as a newly elected city council member Tuesday, did an initial interview with the Texas Rangers, which is investigating the shooting, but hasn't responded for a follow-up interview in two days, said Travis Considine, spokesperson for Texas Department of Public Safety, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, state authorities now say that the teacher who police said left a door propped open minutes before the gunman entered the school and killed 19 children and two teachers had actually closed the door, though it did not lock.
The new development adds to a list of revised accounts from authorities of the May 24 school shooting, including the amount of time before law enforcement officials entered the classrooms where the gunman was shooting and details about officers’ interactions with the gunman.
Previous Guy Supporter Thinks Perdue Per-Did, and Was Cheated. On No, She Per-Didn't!!
One week ago, Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp crushed former Sen. David Perdue by 52(!) points in a high-profile primary fight.
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Perdue, suggested that something was fishy about that race.
“ICYMI: ‘Something Stinks In Georgia,’ Trump sent in a press release via his Save America PAC. The press release referred to a Substack post by Emerald Robinson, a former White House correspondent for Newsmax who now works for Lindell TV, which was founded by MyPillow CEO and election conspiracist Mike Lindell.
Robinson’s argument is a little all over the place, but essentially boils down to this: Trump’s endorsement record is very strong so, um, there must be something wrong in Georgia where a number of his preferred candidates – including Perdue – lost.
Robinson also notes Trump-endorsed candidates fared better in a poll released a month before the Georgia election compared to the final results. That’s it. That the extent of the argument.
So, because Trump’s record of endorsements in 2022 is generally strong, the fact that he endorsed a bunch of candidates in Georgia who lost must mean that there were shenanigans happening.
“Something stinks in Georgia,” concludes Robinson. “The numbers are funny because many of these races were rigged.”
It’s probably worth mentioning here that Robinson was taken off the air at Newsmax late last year after she tweeted this about the Covid-19 vaccines: “Dear Christians: the vaccines contain a bioluminescent marker called LUCIFERASE so that you can be tracked. Read the last book of the New Testament to see how this ends.” Um, no. Robinson’s contract at Newsmax was eventually not renewed.
A Whole Lot of Judges Seem OK with Racism
A particularly flagrant and racist violation of law led a federal court to reverse the murder conviction Tuesday of a Black Rhode Island man convicted in 2013 of killing a 17-year-old girl involved in a fight with the accused man's sister.
During the jury selection process for Leron Porter’s trial, a prosecuting attorney’s reason for striking a juror during the voir dire process was explicitly on the basis of race. The prosecutor admitted as much, according to the court decision. Attorney Josh Block, of the National American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), tweeted:
The stated reasons were that the juror is "a member of the African-American community, the defendant at the bar is a member of the African-American community, [the juror is] the only one on the panel who is, and if he were to vote guilty there could be consequences to it."
“This is the rare case in which the prosecutor's explanation for his peremptory strike was not race-neutral on its face and, thus, violated Batson," Judge Bruce Selya wrote for the First Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals.
Selya refers to a landmark 1986 Supreme Court case, Batson v. Kentucky, that ended with the high court prohibiting attorneys from excluding jurors solely because of their race. In Porter’s case, the prosecutor made it clear that race was his sole consideration in striking the potential juror.
Attorney Mike Anderson, who didn’t appear to be involved in the case, weighed in on the decision on Twitter:
“This is everything you need to know about what's wrong with courts' treatment of criminal cases: The defendant had to go all the way to a federal court of appeals to get this conviction reversed. The trial court, the state supreme court, and a federal district court all OK'd it.”
You Don't Need Malice to Make Sarah Palin Look Like a Clown
The judge who presided over Sarah Palin's libel case against The New York Times denied her request Tuesday for a new trial, saying she failed to introduce "even a speck” of evidence necessary to prove actual malice by the newspaper.
--------------
Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
Don't Blame Canada. This is a Worthwhile Experiment.
Canada has announced it will temporarily decriminalise the possession of small amounts of some illicit drugs in British Columbia (BC).
The province asked for the criminal code exemption after overdoses claimed more than two thousand lives in BC last year.
This time-limited three-year trial is the first of its kind in Canada.
Adults will be allowed to possess a combined total of 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA.
While those substances will remain illegal, adults found in possession for personal use will not be arrested, charged or have their drugs seized. Instead, they will be offered information on available health and social services
In its request to the federal government last year, BC said it asked for the drug laws exemption in order "to remove the shame that often prevents people from reaching out for life-saving help".
Federal minister of mental health and addictions Carolyn Bennett said on Tuesday that "for too many years, the ideological opposition to harm reduction has cost lives".
"We are doing this to save lives, but also to give people using drugs their dignity and choices."
Trevor Noah Talks Guns and Other Stuff
--------------
Invasions Have Consequences
Day 98
Fighting
The United States will send Ukraine the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), equipped with munitions that will allow Ukraine to launch rockets about 80km, but Ukraine will not use the missiles to hit targets on Russian territory, a senior Biden administration official said.
Russia has taken control of most of the eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk, the Luhansk regional governor said. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia’s bombing of Severodonetsk “madness” due to the number of chemical plants in the city.
Ukrainian forces have had some success near the southern city of Kherson and are advancing in parts of the Kharkiv region, Zelenskyy said.
Moscow’s focus on seizing Severodonetsk and the Donbas region more generally risks its hold on Kherson, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.
The United Nations human rights body (OHCHR) confirmed 9,029 civilian casualties in Ukraine since February 24, including 4,113 people killed and 4,916 injured.
Ukraine has identified more than 600 Russian war crime suspects and has started prosecuting about 80 of them, Kyiv’s top prosecutor said.
The Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia will become part of Russia, Russian state news agency RIA reported, citing the secretary-general of the United Russia Party’s general council.
Ukrainian officials reported a “shutdown of all communications” as mobile communication and internet access was blocked in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson.
Some 60 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are being killed per day in the war with Russia, Zelenskyy said, adding that about 500 are wounded daily.
Russia’s nuclear forces are holding drills in Ivanovo province, northeast of Moscow, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.
Ukraine’s parliament dismissed human rights commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova from her post for inadequate performance, the Ukrinform news agency reported.
A Ukrainian court sentenced two captured Russian soldiers to more than 11 years in jail each for shelling a civilian area in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region.
Diplomacy
Although the US is continuing to “reinforce NATO’s eastern flank with forces and US capabilities”, Washington does not seek a war between NATO and Russia, US President Joe Biden said.
Zelenskyy thanked the European Union for banning most oil from Russia and urged Ukraine’s allies to give the country more weapons, saying “there should be no significant economic ties left between the free world and the terrorist state”.
The US hailed an EU decision to scale back Russian oil imports and called for long-term efforts to further reduce dependence on Moscow.
Turkey’s foreign minister said Finland and Sweden should change their laws to win Ankara’s support in their historic bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US State Department suggested that Washington is preparing another aid package for Kyiv, after Congress approved an additional $40bn in military and humanitarian assistance earlier in May.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on French President Emmanuel Macron to visit the country before the end of June.
German politician Manfred Weber said EU membership for Ukraine was a priority as he was elected to be the new president of the European People’s Party (EPP).
Denmark will vote in a referendum on Wednesday whether to abandon the country’s decision 30 years ago to opt out of the EU’s common defence policy.
Pope Francis led an international prayer service in Rome for peace in Ukraine and other places stricken by war – an event attended by about a thousand people, including the Ukrainian ambassador to the Vatican and a number of people wearing the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag.
Economy
Russia’s economy will not suffer from the EU’s oil embargo due to new markets and rising fuel prices, the chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council said.
Russia’s Gazprom said it will turn off supplies to several “unfriendly” countries which have refused to accept Moscow’s roubles-for-gas payment scheme.
German companies Uniper and RWE paid for Russian gas under a new scheme proposed by Moscow, in a bid to ensure continued supply of the fuel that is critical to Europe’s top economy.
A senior UN official had “constructive discussions” in Moscow with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov on facilitating Russian grain and fertiliser exports to global markets, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Russia’s economy will contract less than expected this year and inflation will be lower than previously thought, a Reuters news agency poll of analysts showed.
Most of the Media Bemoans Russian Advances in Severodonetsk. This Guy Does Not.
When you read this, Russia may have full control of Severodonetsk.
Good.
I spent way too much time (here, here, and here) wondering why Ukraine would try and hold a city surrounded on three sides, far from Ukrainian artillery support, with no strategic value, when there was a far more defensible position literally across the river. Seems like Ukraine had the same thought, and has been conducting a fighting retreat from the city over the last couple of days.
Lysychansk is everything you want in a defensive position.
Look at those hills around Lysychansk, perfect for defense.
Not only is the town protected behind a river Russia has thus far proven incapable of crossing, but a network of bluffs and hills overlook Severodonetsk and the river between them, offering effective firing positions to any direct approaches. Hills on the south edge of town make any approach difficult if Russian forces ever manage to break out of the Popasna salient.
........................
The Ukrainian leadership has apparently wisely avoided matching Putin’s mistaken prioritization. Kyiv could have committed more reserves and resources to the defense of Severodonetsk, and its failure to do so has drawn criticism. Ukrainian forces are now apparently withdrawing from Severodonetsk rather than fighting to the end—a factor that has allowed the Russians to move into the city relatively rapidly after beginning their full-scale assault. Both the decision to avoid committing more resources to saving Severodonetsk and the decision to withdraw from it were strategically sound, however painful.
Most of the Media Is Not Mentioning Kherson
Moscow’s concentration on seizing Severodonetsk and Donbas generally continues to create vulnerabilities for Russia in Ukraine’s vital Kherson Oblast, where Ukrainian counter-offensives continue. Kherson is critical terrain because it is the only area of Ukraine in which Russian forces hold ground on the west bank of the Dnipro River. If Russia is able to retain a strong lodgment in Kherson when fighting stops it will be in a very strong position from which to launch a future invasion. If Ukraine regains Kherson, on the other hand, Ukraine will be in a much stronger position to defend itself against future Russian attack. This strategic calculus should in principle lead Russia to allocate sufficient combat power to hold Kherson. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen instead to concentrate all the forces and resources that can be scraped together in a desperate and bloody push to seize areas of eastern Ukraine that will give him largely symbolic gains. Continuing successful Ukrainian counter-offensives in Kherson indicate that Ukraine’s commanders recognize these realities and are taking advantage of the vulnerabilities that Putin’s decisions have created.
Germany Steps Up Again
From a Former Seal Team Six Squadron Leader
Responses to the "Ukraine is doomed" crowd.
Over the last couple of days I observed a lot of pessimism in the Ukraine update posts by Kos and Mark Sumner. I wanted to take a moment to respond to a few of the comments made by posting a diary rather than responding in the comments, as that seemed more useful.
Russia’s army hasn’t collapsed yet, therefore Ukraine is doomed
At least one commenter was making claims that people here on Dkos were claiming early on that Russia’s army would have collapsed by now. Since it hasn’t, therefore Russia’s army is not going to collapse and so so Ukraine is screwed.
I’d say first of all I question the accuracy of the claim that Kossacks were claiming a Russian collapse by the end of May. I’ve followed the Ukraine coverage on this site pretty religiously, and I don’t recall any serious claims by any commenter that Russia’s military was going to collapse by now. If there were, it was a tiny minority, hardly a representative sample of the outlook of the site’s readers.
Second, while Russia’s military hasn’t collapsed, it certainly isn’t in good shape. Definitely not the juggernaut it was though to be the day before the invasion began, and things have only gotten far worse. Some recent revelations:
Russian conscripts from Donbas are showing up on the front line carrying WW2-era Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifles. While a very good rifle and one of the most widely manufactured firearms in history, it was first produced in 1891 (it saw service in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War) and production of the weapon ended in 1973. And while a good rifle, it’s still a 5-shot bolt action rifle being sent into action against troops armed with AK-74 assault rifles.
Despite supposedly having many thousands of T-72 and T-80 tanks on paper as well as it’s supposedly cutting edge T-90 and AT-14 tanks at it’s disposal, Russia has started sending T-62 tanks to serve in the Kherson area. The T-62 was last produced in 1975, and has a smaller gun and thinner armor than the other tanks previously mentioned, and requires an extra crew member because it lacks an autoloader system. The T-62 is also of a different design lineage than the T-72 or T-80 and so requires a different supply stream of parts for maintenance and repair (and Russian logistics have, shall we say, seemed to be lacking already).
Speaking of logistics, much has already been written on Russia’s logistical woes. Reports of thousands of tanks in storage rendered unusable due to poor maintenance and even outright theft of important components, reports of vehicles breaking down due to lack of maintenance, etc.
Su-34’s have been shot down in Ukraine that were found to have commercial GPS units taped to the control panel. Russian vehicles have been captured and found to have 1980’s paper maps of Ukraine in them.
Captured or destroyed Russian equipment has been found to have been jury-rigged using components like semi-conductors and chips from Ukrainian household appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators.
A recent article that discussed interviews with five recently captured conscripts from the Donbas region noted that 4 of the 5 had been sent to the front with no training at all (one, a student, had been sent to join a mortar team, despite having never seen a mortar outside of movies).
Russian prisoners and deserters and intercepted communications indicate frustration with the poor quality of personal equipment they have been issued. Some soldiers are being forced to supplement their Russian-issued gear by purchasing their own boots, camp stoves, etc. — even body armor, because they either did not receive them or they were such poor quality as to be useless. In the early weeks of the invasion, some Russian troops were suffering frostbite due to lack of proper cold weather gear.
So no, Russia’s military hasn’t collapsed yet. But it’s certainly not at all well. And of course the low morale among them is pretty widely known as well, with entire units refusing to go into combat when ordered. Kos himself has already weighed in many times on how Russian BTG’s paper strength differs from their actual field strength and how those Russian BTG’s are almost certainly severely undermanned and underequipped. Experts have assessed that Russia’s offensive capability is nearing “culmination,” meaning that before much longer, Russia will have so depleted it’s capabilities that it will no longer be able to carry out any type of major sustained offensive. Some think this latest Russian offensive at Severodonetsk is pretty much Russia’s last gasp as far as major offensives is concerned. The fact that the Russians seem to have given up on encircling Severodonetsk and instead seem to be resorting to brute force frontal attacks to take the city may actually be an indication that this is happening.
Russia has massive reserves, therefore Ukraine is doomed
Multiple comments made mention of the relative populations of the two countries or otherwise mentioned the supposedly massive reserves that Russia can draw upon. Therefore, supposedly Ukraine is doomed because it is massively outnumbered.
But reserves only matter if they are mobilized, trained and equipped.
And first of all, Putin has not mobilized the reserves. Even if he were to do so immediately, it would be September at the earliest that any of them could show up at the front — assuming they receive full training and, unlike the poor bastards from Donbas that Russia shoved into uniforms and sent to the front that I mentioned above, aren’t just sent off with no training. An untrained or poorly trained soldier isn’t much of an asset to an army, and the learning curve is potentially lethally steep. On-the-job training in a war zone is a helluva way to get trained.
And those reserves are not all they’re cracked up to be. “Reserves” in Russian parlance pretty much means “anyone who’s ever served in the military and is of serviceable age.” So, someone who was a conscript at 19 years old and is now a forty-year old manager in an office somewhere complete with fifty pounds of middle-age spread is considered a “reserve,” despite never having had a single minute of refresher training since his 12 months as a conscript expired 20 years ago. On paper, Russia has about 2 million of these reservists. But that doesn’t mean a damned thing if they’re not mobilized.
Logistics is a further issue. You might have noticed in the previous section how I noted that soldiers were buying their own equipment, that conscripts were showing up on the frontline with ancient bolt-action rifles, and the Russians are sending Vietnam-era tanks to Ukraine? If that’s the case NOW, how is Russia going to equip, say, a million mobilized reservists? And Russia is having trouble supplying its current army in the field — adding another million men to supply with food, weapons, vehicles and ammunition isn’t going to help their problems.
A few comments have noted that Russia has played fast and loose with rules about Russian conscripts not being sent into Ukraine, and that they’ve been using mercenaries, and that they’ve been conscripting from Donbas, etc. That’s all true but hardly enough to make up for the losses they’ve been suffering, and drafting someone from Donbas gives Russia a warm body to put a uniform on but doesn’t provide them with a weapon or an IFV to ride around in — which gets back to Russia’s logistical woes.
Meanwhile, Ukraine mobilized its own reserves at the start of the invasion, and may have as many as a million troops trained and ready to join the fight in coming weeks — the first trainees should be finishing their training any time now. And they are being supplied with substantial amounts of gear by a number of nations, and while some of it is a bit dated, we’re talking 90’s tech and not leftovers from WW2 scrounged from the back of a warehouse somewhere as seems to be the case with some of Russia’s stuff. And some of it is actually cutting edge stuff, like Switchblade drones.
The world is going to lose interest, therefore Ukraine is doomed
The doomsayers are suggesting that the countries currently funneling arms and aid to Ukraine are going to lose interest and cut off the spigot, so therefore Ukraine is screwed.
And while it’s true that certain personages in Europe are making some noises that Ukraine should trade territory for a cease-fire, that doesn’t seem to be the majority outlook, nor a popular one. And even if suddenly every country in the world were to cut off the aid spigot tomorrow and only supply what has already been committed to, Ukraine still will have received a LOT of equipment to carry on the fight. There is certainly no reason to think that Ukraine’s doom is a foregone conclusion even if that incredibly unlikely outcome were to happen. And certainly, even if certain western European countries were to lose interest, the ones much closer to Russia certainly won’t, if only out of their own self-interest and sense of self-preservation, because they don’t want to be next on Vlad’s invasion list.
--------------
A Rare SCOTUS Opinion I Agree With
A Texas law forbidding social media giants from regulating certain forms of online speech has been blocked by the US Supreme Court.
The legislation would have prevented larger tech companies from banning or censoring Texas users for their views.
Republicans in the state said it was necessary to combat what they claimed was social media's liberal bias.
But tech groups argued that the law was a violation of the private companies' freedom of speech rights.
In a rare 5-4 ruling, the US's top court agreed on Tuesday to a request supported by tech giants to temporarily block the law from coming into force.
Industry groups suing against the legislation argued that it violated the right to free speech, which included the freedom of private companies to decide what content to publish on their platforms.
Of Course, They Always Side With Big Business
--------------
The Plant That Ate Manhattan - 3 Times
The largest known plant on Earth - a seagrass roughly three times the size of Manhattan - has been discovered off the coast of Australia.
Using genetic testing, scientists have determined a large underwater meadow in Western Australia is in fact one plant.
It is believed to have spread from a single seed over at least 4,500 years.
The seagrass covers about 200 sq km (77 sq miles), researchers from the University of Western Australia said.
Researchers collected shoots from across the bay and examined 18,000 genetic markers to create a "fingerprint" from each sample.
They had aimed to discover how many plants made up the meadow.
"The answer blew us away - there was just one!" said Jane Edgeloe, the study's lead author.
"That's it, just one plant has expanded over 180km in Shark Bay, making it the largest known plant on Earth."
--------------
HIMARS Will Not Say "Hi" to Mars. It Will Say Goodbye to Russian Artillery
HIMARS are a high-tech, lightweight rocket launcher that is wheel mounted, giving it more agility and manoeuvrability on the battlefield.
Each unit can carry six GPS guided rockets, which can be reloaded in about a minute with only a small crew.
Analysts say the system is considerably more reliable than other rocket systems Ukrainian forces currently use.
The range of the systems provided by Washington will be about 80km (50 miles), almost double the range of the US-provided M777 howitzers, which entered the Ukrainian battlefield in May.
The systems have the added benefit of being self-propelled, meaning they can be fired and moved fast enough to avoid enemy response salvos.
Ukraine Needs to Be Able to Fire at Russian Artillery from Beyond the Range of the Russian Artillery
Let’s talk about range using standard rounds, which are by far the most common in the battlefield. Specialty extended-range rounds are rare and expensive.
Russian D30: 15.4 km (9 mi)
Russian 2S19: 25 km (16 mi)
NATO M777: 29 km (18 mi)
Russian GRAD (MLRS): 45 km (28 mi)
Russian SMERCH (MLRS): 70 km (43 mi)
NATO M142 HIMARS: 70+ km (43+ mi)
As far as I can tell, there aren’t many SMERCH systems in Ukraine, and they are nowhere near as mobile and flexible as HIMARS. Theiner also points out that HIMARS has a longer range than the official numbers. Back in my time, our fire direction computers let us plot targets beyond rated range, so that tracks.
As you can see above, the M777 howitzers that have been streaming into Ukraine already outgun everything except Russian rocket artillery. With HIMARS, no Russian artillery will be safe. No supply depot will be safe (Kupiansk, supplying the entire northern Donbas front, is in range!). No Russian advance will be safe.
There is a potential role for M270 MLRS if the U.S. decides to clear out obsolete early versions of the system—urban defense. Place a platoon, three M270 launchers, somewhere on the outskirts of frequently targeted towns like Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv, in an abandoned barn. Pinpoint the source of any incoming artillery, roll them out, fire a volley, then have them roll into the neighbor’s barn (in case Russia counters with long-range ballistic missiles). As long as the M270s don’t have to move much, they might hold up well enough as semi-fixed local defense.
Wanna Know More?
--------------
There Were Precisely Somewhere Between 6 and 818 Mass Shootings
--------------
The Congo and Ukraine. One of These Things Is Not Like the Other. What Could Be the Difference?
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the world’s most neglected displacement crisis, according to a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
According to the report released on Wednesday, the DRC is home to more than 5.5 million internally displaced people, the third highest number in the world.
A million other Congolese people have also been forced to flee their country. Food insecurity reached the highest level ever recorded, with 27 million people – a third of the country’s population – going hungry.
The NRC’s annual report on neglected crises is based on three criteria: lack of funding, lack of media attention, and lack of international political and diplomatic initiatives.
The DRC has topped the list for two years now.
--------------
New Data Reveals Climate Change Might Be More Rapid Than Predicted.
by Weizmann Institute of Science
A new study, published today in Nature Climate Change, will certainly make the IPCC—and other environmental bodies—take notice. A team of scientists led by Dr. Rei Chemke of Weizmann's Earth and Planetary Sciences Department revealed a considerable intensification of winter storms in the Southern Hemisphere. The study, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Yi Ming of Princeton University and Dr. Janni Yuval of MIT, is sure to make waves in the climate conversation. Until now, climate models have projected a human-caused intensification of winter storms only toward the end of this century. In the new study, Chemke and his team compared climate model simulations with current storm observations. Their discovery was bleak: It became clear that storm intensification over recent decades has already reached levels projected to occur in the year 2080.
"A winter storm is a weather phenomenon that lasts only a few days. Individually, each storm doesn't carry much climatic weight. However, the long-term effect of winter storms becomes evident when assessing cumulative data collected over long periods of time," Chemke explains. Cumulatively, these storms have a significant impact, affecting the transfer of heat, moisture and momentum within the atmosphere, which consequently affects the various climate zones on Earth. "One example of this is the role the storms play in regulating the temperature at the Earth's poles. Winter storms are responsible for the majority of the heat transport away from tropical regions toward the poles. Without their contribution, the average pole temperatures would be about 30°C lower." Similarly, the collective intensification of these storms yields a real and significant threat to societies in the Southern Hemisphere in the next decades.
"We chose to focus on the Southern Hemisphere because the intensification registered there has been stronger than in the Northern Hemisphere," Chemke says. "We didn't examine the Northern Hemisphere, but it seems that the intensification of storms in this hemisphere is slower compared to that in the Southern Hemisphere. If the trend persists," Chemke adds, "we will be observing more significant winter storm intensification here in the upcoming years and decades."
--------------
Sad, But True.
A new study from Princeton spells bad news for American democracy—namely, that it no longer exists.
Asking “[w]ho really rules?” researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argues that over the past few decades America’s political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power.
Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.
“The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy,” they write, “while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”
Full Story
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | New Hospitalizations 7-Day Average | |
| May 31 | 103,686 | 264 | |
| May 30 | 94,260 | 301 | 3,833 |
| May 29 | 103,900 | 327 | 3,496 |
| May 28 | 106,931 | 331 | 3,628 |
| May 27 | 108,825 | 336 | 3,734 |
| May 26 | 109,643 | 315 | 3,722 |
| May 25 | 109,564 | 305 | 3,609 |
| May 24 | 104,399 | 288 | 3,614 |
| May 23 | 104,480 | 279 | 3,604 |
| May 22 | 102,940 | 281 | 3,531 |
| May 21 | 105,198 | 283 | 3,226 |
| May 20 | 105,713 | 284 | 3,369 |
| May 19 | 101,029 | 279 | 3,379 |
| May 18 | 101,130 | 280 | 3,332 |
| May 17 | 99,347 | 273 | 3,250 |
| May 16 | 94,199 | 274 | 3,136 |
| May 15 | 90,337 | 263 | 3,013 |
| May 14 | 88,187 | 265 | 2,698 |
| May 13 | 87,831 | 266 | 2,798 |
| May 12 | 87,382 | 272 | 2,731 |
| May 11 | 84,778 | 272 | 2,652 |
| May 10 | 78,236 | 326 | 2,629 |
| May 9 | 74,712 | 323 | 2,597 |
| May 8 | 66,564 | 323 | 2,510 |
| May 7 | 67,561 | 335 | 2,310 |
| May 6 | 68,807 | 340 | 2,396 |
| May 5 | 67,263 | 341 | 2.363 |
| May 4 | 64,780 | 334 | 2,267 |
| May 3 | 61,712 | 325 | 2,219 |
| May 2 | 60,410 | 318 | 2.214 |
| May 1 | 57,020 | 307 | 2,072 |
| Apr 30 | 56,581 | 310 | 1,882 |
| Apr 29 | 56,166 | 308 | 1,946 |
| Apr 28 | 54,696 | 311 | 1,955 |
| Apr 27 | 53,133 | 334 | 1,941 |
| Apr 26 | 48,692 | 299 | 1,889 |
| Apr 25 | 47,407 | 330 | 1,840 |
| Feb 16, 2021 | 78,292 |
--------------
I Knew a Man Who Used a Coffee Enema Every Day. Nobody Liked Him, But With an Enema Like That, Who Needs Friends?
--------------
Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees
This is Not the Gang Who Can't Shoot Straight. This is the Gang Who Won't Shoot and Can't Get Their Story Straight.
As new details emerge that change the police narrative of what happened during the Robb Elementary School massacre last week, the school district police chief who led the law enforcement response had not responded to investigators for two days, a public safety official said Tuesday.
Uvalde school district police department chief Pete Arredondo, who was sworn in as a newly elected city council member Tuesday, did an initial interview with the Texas Rangers, which is investigating the shooting, but hasn't responded for a follow-up interview in two days, said Travis Considine, spokesperson for Texas Department of Public Safety, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, state authorities now say that the teacher who police said left a door propped open minutes before the gunman entered the school and killed 19 children and two teachers had actually closed the door, though it did not lock.
The new development adds to a list of revised accounts from authorities of the May 24 school shooting, including the amount of time before law enforcement officials entered the classrooms where the gunman was shooting and details about officers’ interactions with the gunman.
Previous Guy Supporter Thinks Perdue Per-Did, and Was Cheated. On No, She Per-Didn't!!
One week ago, Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp crushed former Sen. David Perdue by 52(!) points in a high-profile primary fight.
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Perdue, suggested that something was fishy about that race.
“ICYMI: ‘Something Stinks In Georgia,’ Trump sent in a press release via his Save America PAC. The press release referred to a Substack post by Emerald Robinson, a former White House correspondent for Newsmax who now works for Lindell TV, which was founded by MyPillow CEO and election conspiracist Mike Lindell.
Robinson’s argument is a little all over the place, but essentially boils down to this: Trump’s endorsement record is very strong so, um, there must be something wrong in Georgia where a number of his preferred candidates – including Perdue – lost.
Robinson also notes Trump-endorsed candidates fared better in a poll released a month before the Georgia election compared to the final results. That’s it. That the extent of the argument.
So, because Trump’s record of endorsements in 2022 is generally strong, the fact that he endorsed a bunch of candidates in Georgia who lost must mean that there were shenanigans happening.
“Something stinks in Georgia,” concludes Robinson. “The numbers are funny because many of these races were rigged.”
It’s probably worth mentioning here that Robinson was taken off the air at Newsmax late last year after she tweeted this about the Covid-19 vaccines: “Dear Christians: the vaccines contain a bioluminescent marker called LUCIFERASE so that you can be tracked. Read the last book of the New Testament to see how this ends.” Um, no. Robinson’s contract at Newsmax was eventually not renewed.
A Whole Lot of Judges Seem OK with Racism
A particularly flagrant and racist violation of law led a federal court to reverse the murder conviction Tuesday of a Black Rhode Island man convicted in 2013 of killing a 17-year-old girl involved in a fight with the accused man's sister.
During the jury selection process for Leron Porter’s trial, a prosecuting attorney’s reason for striking a juror during the voir dire process was explicitly on the basis of race. The prosecutor admitted as much, according to the court decision. Attorney Josh Block, of the National American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), tweeted:
The stated reasons were that the juror is "a member of the African-American community, the defendant at the bar is a member of the African-American community, [the juror is] the only one on the panel who is, and if he were to vote guilty there could be consequences to it."
“This is the rare case in which the prosecutor's explanation for his peremptory strike was not race-neutral on its face and, thus, violated Batson," Judge Bruce Selya wrote for the First Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals.
Selya refers to a landmark 1986 Supreme Court case, Batson v. Kentucky, that ended with the high court prohibiting attorneys from excluding jurors solely because of their race. In Porter’s case, the prosecutor made it clear that race was his sole consideration in striking the potential juror.
Attorney Mike Anderson, who didn’t appear to be involved in the case, weighed in on the decision on Twitter:
“This is everything you need to know about what's wrong with courts' treatment of criminal cases: The defendant had to go all the way to a federal court of appeals to get this conviction reversed. The trial court, the state supreme court, and a federal district court all OK'd it.”
You Don't Need Malice to Make Sarah Palin Look Like a Clown
The judge who presided over Sarah Palin's libel case against The New York Times denied her request Tuesday for a new trial, saying she failed to introduce "even a speck” of evidence necessary to prove actual malice by the newspaper.
--------------
Today's Best Person in the World Nominees
Don't Blame Canada. This is a Worthwhile Experiment.
Canada has announced it will temporarily decriminalise the possession of small amounts of some illicit drugs in British Columbia (BC).
The province asked for the criminal code exemption after overdoses claimed more than two thousand lives in BC last year.
This time-limited three-year trial is the first of its kind in Canada.
Adults will be allowed to possess a combined total of 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA.
While those substances will remain illegal, adults found in possession for personal use will not be arrested, charged or have their drugs seized. Instead, they will be offered information on available health and social services
In its request to the federal government last year, BC said it asked for the drug laws exemption in order "to remove the shame that often prevents people from reaching out for life-saving help".
Federal minister of mental health and addictions Carolyn Bennett said on Tuesday that "for too many years, the ideological opposition to harm reduction has cost lives".
"We are doing this to save lives, but also to give people using drugs their dignity and choices."
Trevor Noah Talks Guns and Other Stuff
--------------
Invasions Have Consequences
Day 98
Fighting
The United States will send Ukraine the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), equipped with munitions that will allow Ukraine to launch rockets about 80km, but Ukraine will not use the missiles to hit targets on Russian territory, a senior Biden administration official said.
Russia has taken control of most of the eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk, the Luhansk regional governor said. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russia’s bombing of Severodonetsk “madness” due to the number of chemical plants in the city.
Ukrainian forces have had some success near the southern city of Kherson and are advancing in parts of the Kharkiv region, Zelenskyy said.
Moscow’s focus on seizing Severodonetsk and the Donbas region more generally risks its hold on Kherson, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.
The United Nations human rights body (OHCHR) confirmed 9,029 civilian casualties in Ukraine since February 24, including 4,113 people killed and 4,916 injured.
Ukraine has identified more than 600 Russian war crime suspects and has started prosecuting about 80 of them, Kyiv’s top prosecutor said.
The Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia will become part of Russia, Russian state news agency RIA reported, citing the secretary-general of the United Russia Party’s general council.
Ukrainian officials reported a “shutdown of all communications” as mobile communication and internet access was blocked in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson.
Some 60 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers are being killed per day in the war with Russia, Zelenskyy said, adding that about 500 are wounded daily.
Russia’s nuclear forces are holding drills in Ivanovo province, northeast of Moscow, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.
Ukraine’s parliament dismissed human rights commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova from her post for inadequate performance, the Ukrinform news agency reported.
A Ukrainian court sentenced two captured Russian soldiers to more than 11 years in jail each for shelling a civilian area in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region.
Diplomacy
Although the US is continuing to “reinforce NATO’s eastern flank with forces and US capabilities”, Washington does not seek a war between NATO and Russia, US President Joe Biden said.
Zelenskyy thanked the European Union for banning most oil from Russia and urged Ukraine’s allies to give the country more weapons, saying “there should be no significant economic ties left between the free world and the terrorist state”.
The US hailed an EU decision to scale back Russian oil imports and called for long-term efforts to further reduce dependence on Moscow.
Turkey’s foreign minister said Finland and Sweden should change their laws to win Ankara’s support in their historic bid to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US State Department suggested that Washington is preparing another aid package for Kyiv, after Congress approved an additional $40bn in military and humanitarian assistance earlier in May.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on French President Emmanuel Macron to visit the country before the end of June.
German politician Manfred Weber said EU membership for Ukraine was a priority as he was elected to be the new president of the European People’s Party (EPP).
Denmark will vote in a referendum on Wednesday whether to abandon the country’s decision 30 years ago to opt out of the EU’s common defence policy.
Pope Francis led an international prayer service in Rome for peace in Ukraine and other places stricken by war – an event attended by about a thousand people, including the Ukrainian ambassador to the Vatican and a number of people wearing the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag.
Economy
Russia’s economy will not suffer from the EU’s oil embargo due to new markets and rising fuel prices, the chairwoman of Russia’s Federation Council said.
Russia’s Gazprom said it will turn off supplies to several “unfriendly” countries which have refused to accept Moscow’s roubles-for-gas payment scheme.
German companies Uniper and RWE paid for Russian gas under a new scheme proposed by Moscow, in a bid to ensure continued supply of the fuel that is critical to Europe’s top economy.
A senior UN official had “constructive discussions” in Moscow with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov on facilitating Russian grain and fertiliser exports to global markets, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
Russia’s economy will contract less than expected this year and inflation will be lower than previously thought, a Reuters news agency poll of analysts showed.
Most of the Media Bemoans Russian Advances in Severodonetsk. This Guy Does Not.
When you read this, Russia may have full control of Severodonetsk.
Good.
I spent way too much time (here, here, and here) wondering why Ukraine would try and hold a city surrounded on three sides, far from Ukrainian artillery support, with no strategic value, when there was a far more defensible position literally across the river. Seems like Ukraine had the same thought, and has been conducting a fighting retreat from the city over the last couple of days.
Lysychansk is everything you want in a defensive position.
Look at those hills around Lysychansk, perfect for defense.
Not only is the town protected behind a river Russia has thus far proven incapable of crossing, but a network of bluffs and hills overlook Severodonetsk and the river between them, offering effective firing positions to any direct approaches. Hills on the south edge of town make any approach difficult if Russian forces ever manage to break out of the Popasna salient.
........................
The Ukrainian leadership has apparently wisely avoided matching Putin’s mistaken prioritization. Kyiv could have committed more reserves and resources to the defense of Severodonetsk, and its failure to do so has drawn criticism. Ukrainian forces are now apparently withdrawing from Severodonetsk rather than fighting to the end—a factor that has allowed the Russians to move into the city relatively rapidly after beginning their full-scale assault. Both the decision to avoid committing more resources to saving Severodonetsk and the decision to withdraw from it were strategically sound, however painful.
Most of the Media Is Not Mentioning Kherson
Moscow’s concentration on seizing Severodonetsk and Donbas generally continues to create vulnerabilities for Russia in Ukraine’s vital Kherson Oblast, where Ukrainian counter-offensives continue. Kherson is critical terrain because it is the only area of Ukraine in which Russian forces hold ground on the west bank of the Dnipro River. If Russia is able to retain a strong lodgment in Kherson when fighting stops it will be in a very strong position from which to launch a future invasion. If Ukraine regains Kherson, on the other hand, Ukraine will be in a much stronger position to defend itself against future Russian attack. This strategic calculus should in principle lead Russia to allocate sufficient combat power to hold Kherson. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen instead to concentrate all the forces and resources that can be scraped together in a desperate and bloody push to seize areas of eastern Ukraine that will give him largely symbolic gains. Continuing successful Ukrainian counter-offensives in Kherson indicate that Ukraine’s commanders recognize these realities and are taking advantage of the vulnerabilities that Putin’s decisions have created.
Germany Steps Up Again
From a Former Seal Team Six Squadron Leader
Responses to the "Ukraine is doomed" crowd.
Over the last couple of days I observed a lot of pessimism in the Ukraine update posts by Kos and Mark Sumner. I wanted to take a moment to respond to a few of the comments made by posting a diary rather than responding in the comments, as that seemed more useful.
Russia’s army hasn’t collapsed yet, therefore Ukraine is doomed
At least one commenter was making claims that people here on Dkos were claiming early on that Russia’s army would have collapsed by now. Since it hasn’t, therefore Russia’s army is not going to collapse and so so Ukraine is screwed.
I’d say first of all I question the accuracy of the claim that Kossacks were claiming a Russian collapse by the end of May. I’ve followed the Ukraine coverage on this site pretty religiously, and I don’t recall any serious claims by any commenter that Russia’s military was going to collapse by now. If there were, it was a tiny minority, hardly a representative sample of the outlook of the site’s readers.
Second, while Russia’s military hasn’t collapsed, it certainly isn’t in good shape. Definitely not the juggernaut it was though to be the day before the invasion began, and things have only gotten far worse. Some recent revelations:
Russian conscripts from Donbas are showing up on the front line carrying WW2-era Mosin-Nagant bolt action rifles. While a very good rifle and one of the most widely manufactured firearms in history, it was first produced in 1891 (it saw service in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War) and production of the weapon ended in 1973. And while a good rifle, it’s still a 5-shot bolt action rifle being sent into action against troops armed with AK-74 assault rifles.
Despite supposedly having many thousands of T-72 and T-80 tanks on paper as well as it’s supposedly cutting edge T-90 and AT-14 tanks at it’s disposal, Russia has started sending T-62 tanks to serve in the Kherson area. The T-62 was last produced in 1975, and has a smaller gun and thinner armor than the other tanks previously mentioned, and requires an extra crew member because it lacks an autoloader system. The T-62 is also of a different design lineage than the T-72 or T-80 and so requires a different supply stream of parts for maintenance and repair (and Russian logistics have, shall we say, seemed to be lacking already).
Speaking of logistics, much has already been written on Russia’s logistical woes. Reports of thousands of tanks in storage rendered unusable due to poor maintenance and even outright theft of important components, reports of vehicles breaking down due to lack of maintenance, etc.
Su-34’s have been shot down in Ukraine that were found to have commercial GPS units taped to the control panel. Russian vehicles have been captured and found to have 1980’s paper maps of Ukraine in them.
Captured or destroyed Russian equipment has been found to have been jury-rigged using components like semi-conductors and chips from Ukrainian household appliances like dishwashers and refrigerators.
A recent article that discussed interviews with five recently captured conscripts from the Donbas region noted that 4 of the 5 had been sent to the front with no training at all (one, a student, had been sent to join a mortar team, despite having never seen a mortar outside of movies).
Russian prisoners and deserters and intercepted communications indicate frustration with the poor quality of personal equipment they have been issued. Some soldiers are being forced to supplement their Russian-issued gear by purchasing their own boots, camp stoves, etc. — even body armor, because they either did not receive them or they were such poor quality as to be useless. In the early weeks of the invasion, some Russian troops were suffering frostbite due to lack of proper cold weather gear.
So no, Russia’s military hasn’t collapsed yet. But it’s certainly not at all well. And of course the low morale among them is pretty widely known as well, with entire units refusing to go into combat when ordered. Kos himself has already weighed in many times on how Russian BTG’s paper strength differs from their actual field strength and how those Russian BTG’s are almost certainly severely undermanned and underequipped. Experts have assessed that Russia’s offensive capability is nearing “culmination,” meaning that before much longer, Russia will have so depleted it’s capabilities that it will no longer be able to carry out any type of major sustained offensive. Some think this latest Russian offensive at Severodonetsk is pretty much Russia’s last gasp as far as major offensives is concerned. The fact that the Russians seem to have given up on encircling Severodonetsk and instead seem to be resorting to brute force frontal attacks to take the city may actually be an indication that this is happening.
Russia has massive reserves, therefore Ukraine is doomed
Multiple comments made mention of the relative populations of the two countries or otherwise mentioned the supposedly massive reserves that Russia can draw upon. Therefore, supposedly Ukraine is doomed because it is massively outnumbered.
But reserves only matter if they are mobilized, trained and equipped.
And first of all, Putin has not mobilized the reserves. Even if he were to do so immediately, it would be September at the earliest that any of them could show up at the front — assuming they receive full training and, unlike the poor bastards from Donbas that Russia shoved into uniforms and sent to the front that I mentioned above, aren’t just sent off with no training. An untrained or poorly trained soldier isn’t much of an asset to an army, and the learning curve is potentially lethally steep. On-the-job training in a war zone is a helluva way to get trained.
And those reserves are not all they’re cracked up to be. “Reserves” in Russian parlance pretty much means “anyone who’s ever served in the military and is of serviceable age.” So, someone who was a conscript at 19 years old and is now a forty-year old manager in an office somewhere complete with fifty pounds of middle-age spread is considered a “reserve,” despite never having had a single minute of refresher training since his 12 months as a conscript expired 20 years ago. On paper, Russia has about 2 million of these reservists. But that doesn’t mean a damned thing if they’re not mobilized.
Logistics is a further issue. You might have noticed in the previous section how I noted that soldiers were buying their own equipment, that conscripts were showing up on the frontline with ancient bolt-action rifles, and the Russians are sending Vietnam-era tanks to Ukraine? If that’s the case NOW, how is Russia going to equip, say, a million mobilized reservists? And Russia is having trouble supplying its current army in the field — adding another million men to supply with food, weapons, vehicles and ammunition isn’t going to help their problems.
A few comments have noted that Russia has played fast and loose with rules about Russian conscripts not being sent into Ukraine, and that they’ve been using mercenaries, and that they’ve been conscripting from Donbas, etc. That’s all true but hardly enough to make up for the losses they’ve been suffering, and drafting someone from Donbas gives Russia a warm body to put a uniform on but doesn’t provide them with a weapon or an IFV to ride around in — which gets back to Russia’s logistical woes.
Meanwhile, Ukraine mobilized its own reserves at the start of the invasion, and may have as many as a million troops trained and ready to join the fight in coming weeks — the first trainees should be finishing their training any time now. And they are being supplied with substantial amounts of gear by a number of nations, and while some of it is a bit dated, we’re talking 90’s tech and not leftovers from WW2 scrounged from the back of a warehouse somewhere as seems to be the case with some of Russia’s stuff. And some of it is actually cutting edge stuff, like Switchblade drones.
The world is going to lose interest, therefore Ukraine is doomed
The doomsayers are suggesting that the countries currently funneling arms and aid to Ukraine are going to lose interest and cut off the spigot, so therefore Ukraine is screwed.
And while it’s true that certain personages in Europe are making some noises that Ukraine should trade territory for a cease-fire, that doesn’t seem to be the majority outlook, nor a popular one. And even if suddenly every country in the world were to cut off the aid spigot tomorrow and only supply what has already been committed to, Ukraine still will have received a LOT of equipment to carry on the fight. There is certainly no reason to think that Ukraine’s doom is a foregone conclusion even if that incredibly unlikely outcome were to happen. And certainly, even if certain western European countries were to lose interest, the ones much closer to Russia certainly won’t, if only out of their own self-interest and sense of self-preservation, because they don’t want to be next on Vlad’s invasion list.
--------------
A Rare SCOTUS Opinion I Agree With
A Texas law forbidding social media giants from regulating certain forms of online speech has been blocked by the US Supreme Court.
The legislation would have prevented larger tech companies from banning or censoring Texas users for their views.
Republicans in the state said it was necessary to combat what they claimed was social media's liberal bias.
But tech groups argued that the law was a violation of the private companies' freedom of speech rights.
In a rare 5-4 ruling, the US's top court agreed on Tuesday to a request supported by tech giants to temporarily block the law from coming into force.
Industry groups suing against the legislation argued that it violated the right to free speech, which included the freedom of private companies to decide what content to publish on their platforms.
Of Course, They Always Side With Big Business
--------------
The Plant That Ate Manhattan - 3 Times
The largest known plant on Earth - a seagrass roughly three times the size of Manhattan - has been discovered off the coast of Australia.
Using genetic testing, scientists have determined a large underwater meadow in Western Australia is in fact one plant.
It is believed to have spread from a single seed over at least 4,500 years.
The seagrass covers about 200 sq km (77 sq miles), researchers from the University of Western Australia said.
Researchers collected shoots from across the bay and examined 18,000 genetic markers to create a "fingerprint" from each sample.
They had aimed to discover how many plants made up the meadow.
"The answer blew us away - there was just one!" said Jane Edgeloe, the study's lead author.
"That's it, just one plant has expanded over 180km in Shark Bay, making it the largest known plant on Earth."
--------------
HIMARS Will Not Say "Hi" to Mars. It Will Say Goodbye to Russian Artillery
HIMARS are a high-tech, lightweight rocket launcher that is wheel mounted, giving it more agility and manoeuvrability on the battlefield.
Each unit can carry six GPS guided rockets, which can be reloaded in about a minute with only a small crew.
Analysts say the system is considerably more reliable than other rocket systems Ukrainian forces currently use.
The range of the systems provided by Washington will be about 80km (50 miles), almost double the range of the US-provided M777 howitzers, which entered the Ukrainian battlefield in May.
The systems have the added benefit of being self-propelled, meaning they can be fired and moved fast enough to avoid enemy response salvos.
Ukraine Needs to Be Able to Fire at Russian Artillery from Beyond the Range of the Russian Artillery
Let’s talk about range using standard rounds, which are by far the most common in the battlefield. Specialty extended-range rounds are rare and expensive.
Russian D30: 15.4 km (9 mi)
Russian 2S19: 25 km (16 mi)
NATO M777: 29 km (18 mi)
Russian GRAD (MLRS): 45 km (28 mi)
Russian SMERCH (MLRS): 70 km (43 mi)
NATO M142 HIMARS: 70+ km (43+ mi)
As far as I can tell, there aren’t many SMERCH systems in Ukraine, and they are nowhere near as mobile and flexible as HIMARS. Theiner also points out that HIMARS has a longer range than the official numbers. Back in my time, our fire direction computers let us plot targets beyond rated range, so that tracks.
As you can see above, the M777 howitzers that have been streaming into Ukraine already outgun everything except Russian rocket artillery. With HIMARS, no Russian artillery will be safe. No supply depot will be safe (Kupiansk, supplying the entire northern Donbas front, is in range!). No Russian advance will be safe.
There is a potential role for M270 MLRS if the U.S. decides to clear out obsolete early versions of the system—urban defense. Place a platoon, three M270 launchers, somewhere on the outskirts of frequently targeted towns like Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv, in an abandoned barn. Pinpoint the source of any incoming artillery, roll them out, fire a volley, then have them roll into the neighbor’s barn (in case Russia counters with long-range ballistic missiles). As long as the M270s don’t have to move much, they might hold up well enough as semi-fixed local defense.
Wanna Know More?
--------------
There Were Precisely Somewhere Between 6 and 818 Mass Shootings
--------------
The Congo and Ukraine. One of These Things Is Not Like the Other. What Could Be the Difference?
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the world’s most neglected displacement crisis, according to a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
According to the report released on Wednesday, the DRC is home to more than 5.5 million internally displaced people, the third highest number in the world.
A million other Congolese people have also been forced to flee their country. Food insecurity reached the highest level ever recorded, with 27 million people – a third of the country’s population – going hungry.
The NRC’s annual report on neglected crises is based on three criteria: lack of funding, lack of media attention, and lack of international political and diplomatic initiatives.
The DRC has topped the list for two years now.
--------------
New Data Reveals Climate Change Might Be More Rapid Than Predicted.
by Weizmann Institute of Science
A new study, published today in Nature Climate Change, will certainly make the IPCC—and other environmental bodies—take notice. A team of scientists led by Dr. Rei Chemke of Weizmann's Earth and Planetary Sciences Department revealed a considerable intensification of winter storms in the Southern Hemisphere. The study, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Yi Ming of Princeton University and Dr. Janni Yuval of MIT, is sure to make waves in the climate conversation. Until now, climate models have projected a human-caused intensification of winter storms only toward the end of this century. In the new study, Chemke and his team compared climate model simulations with current storm observations. Their discovery was bleak: It became clear that storm intensification over recent decades has already reached levels projected to occur in the year 2080.
"A winter storm is a weather phenomenon that lasts only a few days. Individually, each storm doesn't carry much climatic weight. However, the long-term effect of winter storms becomes evident when assessing cumulative data collected over long periods of time," Chemke explains. Cumulatively, these storms have a significant impact, affecting the transfer of heat, moisture and momentum within the atmosphere, which consequently affects the various climate zones on Earth. "One example of this is the role the storms play in regulating the temperature at the Earth's poles. Winter storms are responsible for the majority of the heat transport away from tropical regions toward the poles. Without their contribution, the average pole temperatures would be about 30°C lower." Similarly, the collective intensification of these storms yields a real and significant threat to societies in the Southern Hemisphere in the next decades.
"We chose to focus on the Southern Hemisphere because the intensification registered there has been stronger than in the Northern Hemisphere," Chemke says. "We didn't examine the Northern Hemisphere, but it seems that the intensification of storms in this hemisphere is slower compared to that in the Southern Hemisphere. If the trend persists," Chemke adds, "we will be observing more significant winter storm intensification here in the upcoming years and decades."
--------------
Sad, But True.
A new study from Princeton spells bad news for American democracy—namely, that it no longer exists.
Asking “[w]ho really rules?” researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argues that over the past few decades America’s political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power.
Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.
“The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy,” they write, “while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”
Full Story
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
