sherpa

And whine about the results they desired and guaranteed. Ignorance or stupidity, one or the other, and we pay the price, as always.

Can we stop thjs nonsense? We can blame the Saudis until sunset, and it makes no sense and doesn't matter. We can be completely energy independent if we had the desire to do so. This administration has been father to grossly incoherent and inconsistent energy policy. Campaign promise to end all drilling. Further promise to end all drilling on Federal land, and then approving the Willow project in Alaska. Gross delays in getting permits on existing, approved leases, then claiming that this situation is the result of oil companies. Altering refining and transportation regulations. Nonsense. It takes years, sometimes near a decade, to bring an existing lease/permit to production, and immense capital expenditure. The people who make those decisions are not stupid nor unpatriotic. They deal with a current Federal Gov and regulatory environment that is a windsock based on perceived voter response, hence the stupid release of 40% of the SPR prior to the midterms when polling indicated people were getting angry. The energy industry is extremely complex. From exploration, to discovery to lease and permit applications, to building infrastructure, to production and refining decisions regarding crack spreads, (for the uninitiated, that is the decision to refine crude to it's final product of light/medium or heavy final product, which means deciding to refine it to gas/jet fuel/diesel/heating oil/propane/grease ect.), to transportation, and hedging all of that with options and futures, which those companies and those that are heavily dependent on energy costs do is a very complicated and risky business. Engaging in it is made much more difficult when the next gov edict is anyone's guess. The people who do that are not evil. It is the environment in which they work.

Of course there are leases and permits that are not being used, and for very good reasons. It is nonsense to claim the gov has no control regarding price. Tax policy and the regulatory environment impact it immensely. In addition, the managing of the Strategic Petroleum reserve can have a significant impact. Remember when Biden sold off nearly half of it before the mid terms? Treasury estimated that brief supply dump lowered pump prices by 40 cents per gallon, though briefly. In addition, trying to strong arm OPEC and Saudi Arabia in particular has had impacts on supply in the past. Remember when Biden pleaded with SA to not limit production, then when they said no he asked them to wait until after the mid terms? They don't "control" the price. don't control the price, but they significantly impact it.

The government absolutely impacts the price of gas and other refined products. It does so directly via taxes and regulations regarding drilling, refining, transporting and controls leasing and drilling permits. It does so indirectly by making comments like no drilling on Federal Land. By the way, the "people who are "making their shareholders are happy," have a fiduciary responsibility to those shareholders. Thus, they are legally bound to act in shareholder interests. Nationalize the energy industry? sure. Worked great for the Venezuelans.

Every day is an adventure with this guy, and not in a good way. I am not confident that there won't be more adventures in the not too distant future.

I don't disagree with your comments about this particular event. I would like to point out that "JDAM" is a terminal guidance system. It can be used for a wide varieties of yields. A 500 pounder fused for contact produces a certain result. A 1000 or 2000 pounder produces a different result. The fuses used cause yet a different result. None of that result is the because it is a JADM. JADM is guidance. The result is physics, and not related to guidance.

Another useless endeavor. Might be a worthy objective, but they have countless, useless viewpoints with absolutely no reasonable ability to do anything. Doubt that? Watch how China would react to anything regarding its gross environmental posture, which extends from the sea to the land to space. The UN is a very expensive, totally useless noisemaker.

The world needs a functioning body that comes near the stated objectives of the UN. This group and it's structure is not, and is useless in these situations. What it is is a spy haven.

Innocent lives were lost because we abandoned those who supported us in a disgraceful and completely stupid manner. The lives I am talking about were not combat casualties. They were lost because the US fleeing Afghanistan, a decision made by this administration, put them at grave risk, and it didn't need to be that way.

It always amazes me when people state things that have absolutely nothing to do with the point they seek to refute. I never claimed anything regarding the US vis a vis an opinion that the UN is a useless organization in matters such as this. It has systemic problems that cannot be solved with the current structure of the organization, and is, thus, useless. It gives people a chance to talk, but it is a failure and will continue to be.

It gets people who can't do a thing talking, but doesn't stop a single bullet. The UN hasn't had any roll in preventing this kind of think for decades, and as long as China and the Russian Federation are permanent members of the Security Council, is is systemically destined to fail. Utterly useless.

I think a very strong case could be made that a number of people lost their lives as a result of the insanely executed fleeing. from Afghanistan. US servicemen, Afghan supporters and innocent civilians, and it extended beyond the action of that suicide bomber. Supporters of the US were not safely moved and have been killed by the Taliban, who is still hunting them.

Which is shorthand for: "Let's totally waste our time using an impotent organization that never accomplishes anything, so that we can get some news coverage." The UN is completely useless in addressing anything important. A total waste of time, money and real estate.

All of this internecine squabbling aside, I think this gets underway in the next 24 hours. Very difficult to mobilize that amount of troops and not move. I expect the delay has been the US negotiating with the Israelis to provide some humanitarian corridor, but I think the time is nigh.

You know "shellback" has a very specific meaning in Navy parlance. One is either a "pollwog" or a "shellback." I enjoy the more prestigious shellback status.

I really enjoyed my active duty time in the Navy. It is impossible to duplicate squadron life in a civilian career. Not a week goes by that I don't hear from or talk to old squadron mates and Navy friends. It's just very hard to be an involved dad and do what I was doing, so when I got engaged, I submitted my six month notice that I was leaving. As an example, I got married in San Francisco on a Saturday. Had Fri, Sat and Sun off, then got on a plane for Manila on Monday. Fought the USS Midway airwing from Cubi Point, Philippines for six days. Pan Am home to California from Tokyo. Two days off then off to China Lake, Ca to fight F-18's four five days. When I got home, my wife of about three and a half weeks, who I had spent four or five total days with asked me if this is going to be what it's like. Obviously that was unusual, but that was shore duty, which was supposed to be relaxed with weekends off. Carrier deployments were six to eight months long.

On a related note, USS Eisenhower was supposed to get underway yesterday from Norfolk, but it has been delayed at least a day. All of the high visibility networks were claiming that it was going to add to Ford in the eastern Med, but the Navy never discusses ship movements. She could certainly do that, or backfill the waters near Italy where Ford was supporting the Ukrainian thing, or she could sail through the Suez and join 5th fleet in the northern Indian Ocean to keep Iran in check. I can't imagine the alert level if she transits the Suez.

Hopefully the next month will be peaceful.

I think there is a real systemic problem in the situation. There is simply no Arab leader willing to step forward and engage in a peaceful agreement that involves Israel keeping land. It would be viewed as a gross weakness. Look at what happened to Anwar Sadat after his agreement.

The potential for a peaceful resolution was in hand in 2000, during a Clinton led summit. It would have been a great foundation. Arafat was offered nearly everything they had demanded. I recall he claimed it was all a "trick." Most reasonable people disagree, and understand that he was a lying clown never intending to save his people from this, and greatly engaged in self enrichment. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/23/israel3 "The true story of Camp David was that for the first time in the history of the conflict the American president put on the table a proposal, based on UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, very close to the Palestinian demands, and Arafat refused even to accept it as a basis for negotiations, walked out of the room, and deliberately turned to terrorism."

I doubt they will fly into Russian airspace. Very low probability of survival doing that. But, I think they will use HARM to target Russian air defense systems in Russia. HARM range capability would allow that while launching from a safe distance, inside Ukraine. Additionally, with minor modification they can carry Harpoon anti ship missiles.

This just in. Everybody tells everybody about everything. The US was "told" about 9-11, but they really weren't, and were told to look elsewhere. There is simply no way that Netanyahu would be part of this. Such a claim dispels any knowledge of his service to Israel or his personal and family history. It has zero chance of being true and is bizarre.

Whoa. I never asserted you were behind it. I don't do that kind of thing. If someone believes that stuff, they should write the screenplay and see if it gets any traction.

He could have taken Gaza without this wacky, imaginary scheme. The assertion is politically motivated nonsense based on hate.

It is simply implausible to seriously consider that Netanyahu would be aware of this and not prevent it. His biography is incredible. Wounded many times during military service away from college. MIT and Harvard. Masters in two years while taking time to fight various Israeli wars. His family are Israeli martyrs. To think he would desecrate the memories of his father or brother is simply the fantasies of reality denying fools. Those things mean a great deal to these people.