sherpa

You have to be living in a separate universe. Hillary was grossly disrespective of the military and even her Secret Service protectors. They despised her. She didn't want military to wear their uniforms in the White House, never conversed with them and generally treated them with disdain. The Secret Service regarded assignment to her as punishment.

Absolute nonsense. Nobody's career is being damaged. And, again, the placing of people in positions they were unqualified for in order to get a quota has resulted in death.

I don't see any discredit of our military, and putting unqualified people in positions to get a quota has resulted in deaths. It has been going on for years, and is not a positive. Biden has his chance now, as the Secretary of Defense has nominated Admiral Paparo to Chief of Naval Operations, while the Beltway favorite is a female Admiral Franchetti. Paparo would be a signal of China concern, as that is his wheelhouse. By the way, his "personal reasons," as you term it is an issue with using military assets to transport military personnel for abortion procedures. Further these appointments are senior positions, not "fine young men and women." They are career officers at flag rank, and it will get done with no negative consequences.

How about starting this tax nonsense with getting his own kid, you know, the one who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, to obey the law. Hunter could have been convicted of a lot more tax evasion, but the Justice Dept. didn't bother to prosecute some charges until the statue of limitations was exceeded. Anybody from this tax criminal family moralizing on tax issues is pathetically hypocritical.

The only path to US direct military involvement is if Russia does something that triggers a NATO response, and our participation would be part of a NATO action.

I'm not sure what your point is by claiming it puts us one step closer..... Sending end of life span munitions has nothing to do with troop deployment, unless there is something I am missing.

Great question, and I am not an expert on the current battlefield situation. In my view, there has never been a conflict that has more BS put out by interested parties, so I really don't know what the current status on the ground is. What I do know is how to win wars, using the US model, which really has worked without any realistic denial. There are a couple of significant issues in this thing. The Russians have significant problems. They are poorly equipped, poorly led and not committed to the end game. The Ukrainians have other problems. They are incapable of achieving air superiority. The status of Russian air defenses, and the Ukrainian air assets tilts to the Russians. If the Ukrainians could achieve air superiority, this thing is over in a month. Specifically to your question, there are weapons we have used that I'm certain have been exploited by other intel orgs. Not good, but they probably had that info anyway. What they don't have, re the US capability, is any knowledge of how we would use our assets. The F-35 and F-22, along with F-18 variants based on aircraft carriers and our jamming capability is not something they have seen, and would be decisive. The US is extremely good at coordinating really good assets. Light years ahead of our NATO allies. That is our unmatched strength; synergistic applications of existing systems. Nobody spends more time at it and nobody is close to our capability. More specifically to your question, I would never advocate the use of chemical or biological weapons. Re-reading your thoughtful post there is really no "path to victory" for the Russians. They will neve successfully occupy land in the Ukraine. They have no system that the Ukrainians will buy into, and they are militarily impotent vis a vis additional land capture. They are screwed, and its just a matter of time

By the way, regarding the cost of these munitions, the Administration, I'm sure on information from DOD, is claiming the cluster munitions are off the shelf supply approaching the end of their shelf life, so they either get used or taken out of inventory. Ergo, no real way to expense them accurately. That is the case with a lot of what we have given them. The media reports the cost, but that's not really an accurate data point for the actual cost. A lot of it has been stuff in our inventory, running out of lifespan. HIMARS and shoulder mounted anti air missiles are the exception. Raytheon has mentioned that issue publicly. By the way, if you look at that picture I provided, notice the yellow bands on each weapon. That means they are real, live weapons. The two yellow bands on the cluster bombs, Rockeye in this case, mean that is is a live weapon and that it has thermal protection inside to lengthen the "cook off" time before they'd explode in case of a fire on the flight deck. The red things on the nose is the protective cover of the fuse, and would be removed by the ordies when on the catapult just prior to launce.

Nope. Not at all. I'm for doing what it takes to get Russia out of Ukraine as fast as possible, using humanitarian means in an ugly war. I fully support using cluster bombs against Russian military personnel and mechanized artillery inside the Ukraine and it should have been done months ago.

Yes that is generally true among civilized nations. Each country has its own rules for its own military. Russia is out of control. They have no control over what their own troops are doing, and certainly none regarding the Wagner group. Cluster munitions are far less dangerous than mine fields. The bomblet "duds" are visible, as they lay on the ground, unburied, unlike land mines. The US munitions have about a 2% dud rate compared with about a 30% rate for the Russian trash. It would be far better if they were delivered by air, rather than artillery, as the accuracy is far better. Given the significant capability of Russian air defense, that doesn't seem realistic, just now. They are extremely effective and just what is needed. If the Ukrainians want to use them and are willing to deal with the risk, on their own land, they should be able to make that decision. It's me, aboard USS Kitty Hawk standing alert 15 in the Indian Ocean.

Here's the US response to using cluster bombs. The cluster bombs are those fat bombs, three, one by his left ear and two at the outboard stations. What he has his arm on is HARM, also discussed in this thread, and on his head is a Sidewinder heater with front quarter capability. The other side of the airplane is similarly armed, so that's six clusters, two Sidewinders and two HARM missiles. Standard alert 15 loadout at sea on a carrier. If there is time, and the threat is known to not require certain weapons, they would be downloaded, time permitting.

She is specially responding to a question regarding the use of cluster bombs against civilians. Go to the 15 second mark of the link. Cluster bombs in known civilian areas is clearly a war crime. That is not the case now presented with the latest weapons promise to Ukraine. If they do deploy them against known civilian targets, it should be judged as a war crime. On a side note, what a difference between this Press Sec. and the moron they are using now.

We would be foolish to sign any treaty that banned their use. People who advocate such positions don't fight wars, don't deal with consequences of not fighting wars to your capacity with reasonable ROE to prevent inhumane acts, and don't understand the differnces between our munitions and the crap being used by the Russians and Ukranian's supply. It is the product of faculty lounge viewpoints, folks who do a lot of talking but aren't actually involved.

The only way they cut down the time to clear minefields is by suppressing enemy fire during the operation. Clusters have no capability in clearing the field on their own. One potential benefit is in regards to Russian troop morale. It it's as bad as reported, the use of cluster munitions is going to impact that greatly. In the past, the US has used the news media to hint at their use by allowing CNN in particular to interview somebody for the sole purpose of seeing cluster munitions loaded on attack aircraft in the background. While front line Russian troops have no access to media, if their countrymen see it on TV, I'm sure they'll let them know. Either way, if the weapons are deployed, they will have no doubt. These are extremely effective anti personnel devices.

Not without restrictions in this case, but it's the perfect solution to what they are facing.

I'll go out on a limb and risk condemnation, but I'd fully support the use of US quality cluster munitions against the Russian forces, with significant and strict rules of engagement. Perfect weapon for the current battle situation, and the risk can be significantly mitigated.

He could have, because the end of it was his preference, but at the time it was discussed he was deeply involved in Monticello operations, which had been neglected to some extent during his long public service absences, and founding the University of Virginia, which took up all his time, and he was quite old then. One of the other views he had, and expressed in conversation to Madison who authored the Constitution, was that his only concern was the potential for a runaway judiciary. Two hundred and fifty years later we see that battle over the import of Supreme Court Justice appointments.

He was much more than a dreamer, though I get the point. He was an accomplished inventor and the individual who introduced European grapes into the US, an industry that has exploded, though he never harvested a single wine grape. He had a lot stacked against him re finances. No doubt his operation would have thrived had he not spent so much time away from Monticello as Minister to France, Vice President and President. With the loss of his wife at such a young age the operation suffered in his absence, and some people he lent significant amounts of money to did not pay the debts.

Who acknowledged its evil, wrote that into the Declaration's original draft, (that part was redacted to appease some Southern states so the Declaration would be unanimous-not his choice), and in later years predicted accurately that it would eventually tear the country apart, some fifty years before the Civil War, and when asked to champion its abolition, said that while he agreed with the goal, he was too old to do much good. From John F. Kennedy addressing a dinner including the Nobel winners of the Western Hemisphere: "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet."

Politics makes people quite wealthy as well, though they may not start out that way. There are scores of extremely talented people in the private sector who are not billionaires. Jefferson died in debt because of a bad loans to friends and family, the panic of 1819, spending so much time away from Monticello in public service, which was not his choice. His estate became a huge financial burden, and living a bit beyond his means at the wrong time. An absolutely brilliant jurist, scientist, inventor, astronomer, political scientist and farmer.

During the Revolution times we had roughly one million here, and we came up with Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. Now we have 335+ million and we've got.............. Our most skilled people are in industry, and we have plenty. Certainly not politics.

The FAA is a mess on many levels. The Administration/Secretary of Transportation's nominee for FAA Administrator withdrew from consideration after being exposed as completely unqualified during Senate hearings this year. Even Dems on the committee were not going to vote for confirmation, so rather than continue the process he simply withdrew. The FAA has not had an Administrator to run it since spring 2022. Quite an operation DOT is.

Funniest thing I ever saw there. Right after 9/11, US airline crews had to stay at an airport instead of the normal, contractual downtown hotels, and Charles De Gaulle airport is far away from anything fun. So, they set up this thing where two times a day a bus would drive you downtown and drop off at L'Opera, picking up twice a day much later. I always did that. One day on the bus, we had arrived in the city. Most everyone on the bus was asleep, but I wasn't. I was on the right side and I could see this little battle going on between this old guy in a small car with his wife and our driver. The traffic was quite heavy and the old guy was trying to get into our lane. The bus driver wouldn't let him in. I could see the guy and the bus driver gesturing unkindly to each other. After about three traffic lights of this escalating situation, we were stopped at a light and the old guy gets out of his car and approaches the bus. The bus driver opens the door, goes down the stairs and while they scream at each other, our bus driver head buts the guy. The guy's head is bleeding and his wife gets out and they start screaming. Bus driver comes up the stairs and gets in his seat and off we go. About two lights later, a cop blocks the bus, comes in and arrests the driver, leaving our bus about two blocks from L'Opera in the left turn lane. We all just got out and walked.

? There's no incongruency in the post. Versailles, Mont St. Michel and Normandy are not Paris. I kind of like Paris, but there are unpleasant elements. Been to the others as well. Normandy is really cool. Got to fold the flag when it was hauled down at the American cemetery at Taps.

The mother was charged, under existing Virginia law, with felony child neglect and recklessly leaving a fire arm to endanger a child.