Lee B

Since I was a child watching movies, I have always wondered why labs don't all have thick rubber floors and expensive, unbreakable test tubes and glass vessels. I asked my mom that back then and she said "then there wouldn't be a movie..."

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A number of these air drone delivered ground drones have been dropped behind the Russian lines during Operation Vivaldi.


The birth of terminators.

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Read "The Second Variety" by Phillip K. Dick... or watch the movie version "Screamers."

"The Terminator" drew a lot of inspiration from his stories but would not have had as happy an ending if he'd written it.

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“You take 5 white guys and you take 5 black guys and put em together for a week and what you won't have is 5 blacks guys talking like, 'Golly gee, we really won that big basketball game' but you will have 5 white guys talking like 'Yo slick, whuzzup...we be shootin hoops and mad playin, slammed those mofos”

-George Carlin


But when I was growing up White culture was still seen as cool. Fast forward to 2026, I don't think it is so much nowadays. Black culture has dominated everybody ideology of what's cool and trendy.

I even seen some White girl cheer squads move more towards the Black girl sassy and provocative style of cheer on some Bring It real life type stuff.

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When I was a kid we learned square dancing in school. Things were real wholesome.

And the school band played Phillip B. Souza, none of that jungle jass music.

We've lost so much!

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Diesel prices are high because we are selling to Europe and Ukraine bombed Russian refineries. Has nothing to do with Iran.

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Russian diesel is banned. How could that be part of this equation?

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They don't need American spies. They need American voters.

Wow, I hadn’t even considered that. This billionaire is trying to affect US elections with a couple hundred voters that he can maybe control. Interesting.

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or worse, they might become political candidates... like literal "Manchurian Candidates" that we won't suspect, though knowing they were born to surrogates here then raised as Communist Billionaires in China.

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Any comments from the "the flamingo is a super weapon" crowd?


Not really a super weapon, but a cheap one.

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And... how expensive are the Russian air defense things that took them down?

That's important, isn't it? How much Russia is wasting air defense on cheap missilles, because if they exhaust them then these cheap flamingos can cause some damage, cheaply.

I seem to have read a few thousand times how that was important when it was the Shahed-type drones.

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The point was that Ukraine is preparing extensive defensive lines just over the border from the Donbass. The question is why create such extensive fortifications outside of the Donbas with one POSSIBLE answer being that if they end up giving up the Donbas, they will have a good border defense in place on day 1.

It's a POSSIBLE signal that they are preparing for Russia controlling all of the Donbas. Since Russia can't take it, the only way all of the work and investment make sense is that Ukraine would end up ceding it in a peace agreement.

I'm fully aware that Ukraine has said they wouldn't give it up, but things change.

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Just to be clear, you're not the someone I was referring to.

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Ok, here's an officer you'll fight for.

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Who would downvote this?

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Never mind that Ukraine produces thousands per year at $300k each. And we make 50 Tomahawks a year at $3 million apiece.


Why do you think that is?

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Tomahawks are very sophisticated and work-intensive to manufacture... they are not cranked out on an assembly line, really... they are essentially handmade.

Now, why were they designed that way, and why was the project approved if that was the case/cost?

Part of it is our beloved military-industrial complex and its partners in the Pentagon and Congress, the latter of whom are counting on executive jobs in that private sector when they leave the military/government.

Part of it is a blind spot (which should've been awakened after Vietnam, but certainly after 9/11) to asymmetrical warfare... which is ironic since the United States employed asymmetrical warfare to win its independence from Great Britain. The expectation was that Patriots would be intercepting missiles that cost 10x+ more per unit... not much cheaper Shahed-type drones. The strategy of overwhelming air defense with cheap drones so that a couple of ballistic missiles can slip through and do maximum damage wasn't considered when the platforms were designed. And our defense industry is still kind of going "uh...." while Ukraine had to come up with something fast, which could be manufactured quickly and was cost-effective, or they would be screwed. Innovation through necessity versus designing things based on guesses of how things might be used.

Edited to add: I read someone's opinion that the reason Trump did an about face on licensing Patriot manufacturing to Ukraine was the fear by the stateside manufacturer that they would make them for much less money.

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Based on what?


See, e.g, Afghanistan, Iran.

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Based on U.S. invasions and occupations?

That suggests the U.S. will get sick of being involved in Iran (which has pretty much happened, already) before an invasion and attempted occupation even happen, not that collective West will get tired of helping Ukraine fight a Russian invasion.

Russia is the equivalent of the US in the Afghnistan comparison, which helped topple the Soviet Union when it was actually Russia occupying that country

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One thing we DON'T have is a populace used to doing without. It will take a LOT more to impact Russians than it would to impact the US.

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You surely don't mean that the Russian people can't just vote Putin out of power, do you!?!