New air frames tend to have a lot of issues. They’re kind of at the limits of engineering complexity. Too many parts optimized for weight/strength just perfectly, until there’s that one extra side load, or power drain, that no one expected. That’s why a lot of test designs end at the full scale testing stage. It’s not until all the parts are in one place that you can really see if they all work together.

In the long term, it will mean America will have a weaker position at every bargaining table. From trade deals, to immigration, to military engagement. And sure, in a lot, if not most cases, that’s better for the world. For the US it will mean more hardship and more poverty, leading to more crime, leading to more right wing extremism. And unlike unwinding the Soviet Union, when America unwinds, there’s going to be and axis of China and Russia waiting to step on everyone else. Russia isn’t building enough guns to defeat Ukraine, they’re aiming to build enough to defeat Europe. And they know they couldn’t do it if America were there as a back stop. He’s also counting on the EU being too afraid to send nukes.

Uh oh, someone woke up the vikings.

It’s positive for the rest of the world, not so much for America.

Pretty sure he was already a puppet, that was just the rimming of the ring.

EDIT: Speaking of which, does anyone know if Marina Gross is still actually alive? I get not wanting media attention etc, but she seems like a ghost for someone that translates for world leaders.

I think it’s a time share with China

Actually yes, there are more oligarchs than the idiots in charge right now, and it’s going to come to a head at some point. Each one has their feifdom and they won’t go quietly.

More to the point, it’s going to reach the point of mass protest again, and moron is going to call in the military. After which everything is on the table. No one in power will be safe in anything but armored transport and guarded villages, which won’t last long. At that point the US and it’s global hegemony will be broken. There won’t be the resources to project military power beyond our borders and a few subject states, because it will cost so much to keep security at home, and productivity will tank hard.

No one can beat the US military except the US itself, and it’s being forced to do just that.

Given current politics, maybe. It’s a big expenditure that could go bankrupt if the current political insanity gets shut down. I think if the government put some guarantees of future support in case that happens it would instantly be a worth while project. Which probably depends on selling it as a national security and resilience issue.

Good location, limited infrastructure. They’d need to build a full commercial cargo port, and probably expand the oil/gas facility a lot.

Half dozen is plenty really. In recipe’s it’s supposed to be 3 quail eggs to replace 1 chicken egg, it’s really about 2.5 just rounded up. With a family of four and a dozen birds we have egg breakfasts 2 or 3 times a week in the summer, down to every other week in the winter. We’ll probably expand the flock a little this summer, bigger cage plans once I can figure out how to keep them as safe as they are in the shed now. Just found out rodents can spread bird flu too, so building requirements just got tougher.

It’s made me a lot more smug about having our own quail.

It also depends on Russian nukes not being made of cardboard. Or Trump selling him the US arsenal.

Carnival BB gun on a turret basically. Squat for range, but squat for detection distance anyway. It would be able to knock out shaped charge dones outside their effective range, just barely. Drones with a grenade would still be close enough to be fatal without cover. It’d be an automated system to do the same thing the sad cages do now.

I think someone looking to milk billions in government contracts has been talking to Trump, and offering kick backs.

The canal is on a crash course with climate change. They’re going to need absolutely massive investment to operate once the lake dries up, and they’re not pulling in massive profits to pay for that. If Trump wants lower fees, he best be ready to pay for them. The reality though is that he’s probably just betting on failure.

Hey don’t start with that now, at my age it’s been decades since I could sleep that long.

Just wait till you hear about the ‘eating healthy’ bullshit.

I’m sure this will just be a misunderstanding that will be cleared up in no time. Let me know when that happens.

… I’ll be in my bunker.

They need a unified front against Trump’s trade war. Even if that means working with China.

It’s not a policy question it’s a media question. The right started taking over news media the day Nixon resigned. Repealing the Fairness doctrine, ending League of Women voters debates, propping up Fox news, and Sinclair media buying out all the local stations. That’s the decades long community goal they’ve been running. The left needs to understand it, and how to fight it, because MSNBC isn’t doing it.