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Ever hear the phrase "Past performance is not indicative of future results?" Military folks must never rely on continued, gross misjudgments. Putin has likely learned quite a bit about his military and the inputs he received. Make no mistake, the Russians have a lot of capability and seemingly not much interest in limiting their own casualties. We are where he thought we'd be months ago; betting if NATO and the west has the stomach to bear the burden of wearing him out. So far, he's looked the fool. I'm guessing he got a lot smarter and the net few months will be really ugly.

I'm not going to quote the above, but there is evidence, from folks who know, that the Russians have evolved a bit from the initial ten month debacle. They have been using "recon by fire" tactics, where they send in their conscripts, who immediately get slaughtered, but identify Ukrainian positions which are then attacked by regular Russian forces or their relatively skilled mercenaries. They will do a much better job of this. They have also gone to a full war mode in their domestic production capability which should result in better supplies for their next offensive. How long that can las is anybody's guess, but it would be foolish to assume that they are not capable of learning from their idiotic mistakes, and will present a more formidable foe this year.

The air war is something I do have a significant level of knowledge in. The F-16 is a bad option for a lot of reasons. It is far more complicated than other options and would have difficultly operating the Ukrainian runways, which are much rougher than what it is designed to operate on. The Swedish Gripen makes a lot more sense for them. It would be a great choice. Realistically, I think both sides are somewhat beyond the point of no return. The Russians have totally screwed this up, but they are in a better position now than they were in early Dec. The Ukrainians have a tough couple months ahead, but if they can hold out, they will be in a much better position in the late spring to utilized the massive aid they are getting. Either way, supporters of the Ukraine cannot allow Russia a win here. If separatist areas in the east truly want to hitch their wagon to a fatally flawed regime that has limited time left, let them go. Beyond that, Russia bit off more than it can chew and has no hope of ever successfully occupying areas it once thought it could. The wild card is Russian domestic opinion finally acknowledging reality and getting rid of this nut.

The tank thing is interesting. The Challengers from UK were last produced in the early 2000's, prior to 2005. Giving them 14 of them, old as they are and who knows what spare parts situation is, having been out of production for so long, doesn't seem to be militarily significant. It certainly did break the diplomatic block that got them US tanks and many Leopards, which makes more sense. The Leopard is far more easily operated in the Ukraine, including transport, recovery vehicles uniformity of weapons etc. Toss those three into the mix along with scores of other systems they've not operated before and you have to wonder if they will ever achieve full capability. It seems the Russians will attempt some kind of offensive in Feb that must be deterred. Then, in late April or May they can mount a counter offensive and hopefully impact the current geo situation. The Russians are not terminally stupid though. They are streamlining their defense production and eliminating wasteful programs that aren't doing anything while multiplying production of what they think does work. This is going to be really high casualty warfare for both sides.

I've had gas, geo thermal and heat pump. I can't see a heat pump only product working north of central Virginia. What can be done is having a heat pump that is dual fuel, and switches to nat gas/propane below about 45 degrees.

In 2022, two years after your 2020 observation re Biden, Virginia elected a Republican Governor over the ultimate Democrat operative, Terry McAuliffe. So what.

It is never "easier than you think." The M1 Abrams is powered by a jet engine. It is really heavy and really complex. Recovery vehicles, loaders to move it, as well as normal consumables and normal maintenance for its operation are way more complicated. Leopard tanks from Germany and Challenger tanks from the UK make way more sense.

Not interested in what Boris Johnson has to say about this. Headlines for the ignorant. Providing front line, near state of the art arms to the Ukraine is a complicated issue requiring many levels of competency for success. Boris isn't the guy to deliver an accurate or realistic approach.

I'd be glad to, when that exists. Point it out with real quotes, not made up ones that eliminate essential words. Know what? It aint gonna happen. You and your partner are going to continue quotidian efforts, and it doesn't matter what happens in disagreement, because you will continue to invent posts, misrepresent policy and view and do what you do. Everybody knows it.

I'm not digging, I'm accusing. You are a fool and a liar. Quite clear.

Put your money...... Short the $ and see where that takes you. I think both right and left are quite awake.

No. You didn't "bust" me on anything. Your first lie is stating I claimed, ever, to be a Biblical scholar. Your second mistake, or lie, is claiming I said something I didn't, on a subject that anyone with a modicum of knowledge would know, except you. Your third lie is misstating what McCarthy said, which was not a cut, but a cap at 22 levels. Your fourth ignorance is repeatedly misspelling Testament. You are either so immersed in partisan nonsense that your ability for discernment is corrupt, or you are simply not smart enough to interpret English.

You are simply too ignorant. I never said the old Testament rules don't apply. I said there are items in the "Law," outlined in the Old Testament that Jews were to live by that do not apply to Christians, and I pointed many out. You seem to have forgotten that, as well as misquoting me. Here's an example as it may be easier for you to understand. In the 1967-68 NCAA basketball season, dunking was ruled illegal. If someone said, in 1980, that the NCAA basketball rules had been modified, and dunking was now legal, only an idiot suggest that that person said no rues prior to 67 existed in '80. Is that too complicated? Read the suggestions from McCarthy about leaving defense spending where it was weeks ago. See his suggestions? Eliminating woke classes/seminars that are expensive and time consuming. Ceasing to fund expensive and thus non productive weird fuel programs was mentioned. By the way, some have promise, not that you would know. Suggesting that run downs in US weapons inventory below acceptable levels need not be worried about because there are fewer targets is all one needs to see to determine your level of knowledge.

This is utter nonsense . The "number of targets" is a specious suggestion. The "GOP trying to cut defense spending," is a great idea if you actually read the link. The cuts suggested were in non effective, wasteful issues, and would take us "back" to a few week's ago defense spending. Not real cuts. Few know it, but the mandate that the US military has is to be able to fight a two front war. The locations change, but that is now thought to be a European/NATO thing, and a South China Sea thing-anyone can figure out who that is directed at. In order to do that, you have to have the manpower, equipment and logistics.

Regarding inventories, I posted this on Dec. 9 in this forum: "First on an inventory note, I was watching the CEO of Raytheon on CNBC the other day and he mentioned that in the first ten months of this war, Ukraine had gone through ten years of Javelin production and fifteen years of Stinger production. Obviously, we need to get those, or replacements back up to acceptable inventories."

Don't have to "do Biden." Biden is not only done, he's being done by his own party as they abandon ship. Glad to see both he and Trump gone, if it works out that way.

Whoever the "cult" is, perhaps they were moved to serious personal reflection after hearing Biden sermonize about his life long serious approach to such matters just months before they were discovered in every property he owns.

You are digging deeper. You don't simply throw classified material in a box, and pack it like any moving item. Further, you are required that anyone who has access to it has appropriate security clearances, and depending on level, a need to know. This is gross negligence. It is this attitude that permeates the gov including Congress and their staffs, and it's exactly why we get less cooperation from the Brits and more specifically the Israelis in security and intel matters. There is a view that the US doesn't treat this stuff with anywhere near the level of importance that other countries do, and our porous history is embarrassing, and ultimately expensive if not dangerous.

The "facts?" The facts are that intentional or not, he was responsible for properly handling them. The political "class" in this country has diferentiated itself form others, who are sworn to uphold these type of responsibilities. The "feelings," true or not, are yours's.

Gross, seemingly uncaring negligence by both him and his staff all of which he has decried and claim he was above in the recent past. Gets you potentially court martialed and in jail in other, less privileged but supposed to be just as responsible organizations. Totally irresponsible and stupid. I had one experience with this during service time. We had a safe where the stuff was stored, and materials were logged in and out. One guy checked out a TS document which was not allowed out of the squadron building. We do doing an Air Force thing at Nellis, and somebody spotted the red cover and binder in the back of a rental. The guy was not prosecuted, but offered a deal he couldn't refuse. He was out of the service in one month. The items likely discussed in the presidential/vice presidential nonsense were likely briefing documents that are prepared by intel orgs for reading. Staff members should be tasked with providing them and returning them. Just gross failures and negligence.

Ya. Good job. I've got an idea. How about respecting and conforming to the laws, directives and protocols involving handling thee documents, the way everybody is supposed to? If you do that, you don't have to worry about "cooperating with law enforcement." Instead, we have one guy who has sensitive documents strewn all over the place, and another who absolutely failed to respect established protocols in declassifying materials. One points to having the individual and his staff being grossly negligent, and the other playing some legal game. Shame on both of them, and their staffs.

The money we spent changing the name of the NOTAM system from Notice to Airmen, which was evidently sexist and offensive, to Notice to Air Missions, which makes absolutely no sense as non military aviation is never a mission, could have been spent enhancing the software. But no. You get the results you get when you put political friends in leadership roles instead of people who have knowledge, experience and talent in those areas.

I have a fully developed and functional "conscience." The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs advises the Secretary of Defense who then serves the president. The services do not form military policy. They advise on what is possible and recommend how that they would prefer to carry out directives given by the national command authority. Regarding this suggestion of what Trump said, I wouldn't doubt it at all. The guy has no normal, disciplined control over his mouth and has said countless stupid things. I'm quite certain there was never any realistic threat to perform a nuclear strike on North Korea.

I am always pleased to be called names by you. As a "clown," I do alright,

I'm not Chef, but we've used induction for over ten years. Wouldn't do anything else. Same goes with tankless water heaters.